Production of Silver Nanoparticles in a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor Based on Plant-Mediated Biosynthesis: Flow Behaviors and Residence Time Distribution Prediction by Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation

Abstract

Here, biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in a continuous stirred tank with C. Platycladi extract serving as both reducing and capping agents was investigated, which for the first time provided a successful green protocol for synthesis of AgNPs in a continuous stirred tank Residence time distributions (RTDs) of the tank for both liquid and the AgNPs were measured experimentally to evaluate the performance of the tank. In addition, the flow behaviors in the tank varied with rotor speed and the performance of the RTD at sufficient rotor speed (360 rpm) was simulated then analyzed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool. The results showed that the mean and variance of the RTD deviate from the ideal values at low rotor speed, indicating that the rotor speed is a crucial factor for the continuous stirred tank. In addition, the liquid RTD was very close to the granular RTD, and the predicted RTD by CFD was similar to that measured experimentally. Finally, AgNPs with different size distributions were successfully synthesized in the tank by regulating technical parameters such as feeding flow rates of the reaction solutions, the concentration of C. Platycladi extract, and reaction temperature. The present work is anticipated to play an important role toward continuous production and industrialization of AgNPs using biosynthetic technique