Effects of Macromixing on the oregonator model of the belousov - zhabotinsky reaction in a stirred reactor

Macromixing effects on the oscillating Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction based on the global fluid field have been investigated. The three-variable irreversible Oregonator and the networks-of-zones model with 2 × N × N zones were chosen for describing the chemical kinetics and the flow field, respectively. With high stirring rate, all zones in the tank will oscillate synchronously and the tank can be taken as an ideally well-mixing continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor. When stirring rate is decreased, locally simple oscillation patterns were found to be sustained, and the oscillation period was decreased accordingly. It is proposed that the output zone acts as an excitable nucleus which determines the overall oscillations. When stirring rate is reduced further, many local zones can be excited as nuclei, and apparent complex oscillations can result.