CO2 dissolution in water using long serpentine microchannels

The evolution of carbon dioxide bubbles dissolving in water is experimentally examined using long microchannels. We study the coupling between bubble hydrodynamics and dissolution in confined geometries. The gas impregnation process in liquid produces significant flow rearrangements. Depending on the initial volumetric liquid fraction, three operating regimes are identified, namely saturating, coalescing, and dissolving. The morphological and dynamical transition from segmented to dilute bubbly flows is investigated. Tracking individual bubbles along the flow direction is used to calculate the temporal evolution of the liquid volumetric fraction and the average flow velocity near reference bubbles over long distances. This method allows us to empirically establish the functional relationship between bubble size and velocity. Finally, we examine the implication of this relationship during the coalescing flow regime, which limits the efficiency of the dissolution process. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3693591]