Modeling and experiments of a resonant sonochemical reactor

This work aims at analyzing and realizing a horn-type sonochemical reactor which can be operated in a very low ultrasonic power density but results in a large volume of cavitation zones. The sonoreactor contains three main components, namely a Langevin-type piezoelectric transducer (20 kHz), a metal horn, and a circular cylindrical sonicated cell filled with tap water. In order to diminish the generation of cavitation bubbles near the horn-tip, an enlarged cone-shaped horn is designed to reduce the ultrasonic intensity at the irradiating surface and to get better distribution of energy in the sonicated cell. It is demonstrated both numerically and experimentally that the cell geometry and the horn position have prominent effects on the pressure distribution of the ultrasound in the cell. With appropriate choices of these parameters, the whole reactor works at a resonant state. Several acoustic resonance modes observed in the simulation are realized experimentally and used for generating a large volume of cavitation field.