Regular Microstructured Elements for Intensification of Gas–Liquid Contacting Made by Selective Laser Melting

Additive manufacturing (AM) as a novel technique for generating complex geometries is attracting interest in R&D. Besides the vast opportunities in rapid prototyping and manufacturing, especially in the chemical industry, the extended possibilities of producing devices highly adapted to specific tasks are opening new avenues for process intensification and miniaturization. In this work 3D-structured components for fluidic devices manufactured by selective laser melting are presented. Fluid guiding elements (FGE) structured with precisely defined fluid passages in the submillimeter range for absorption processes were additively manufactured. The elements were characterized and evaluated for CO 2 absorption in water and NaOH solution. In general, the FGE structures show enhanced gas–liquid mass transfer in CO 2 absorption. The absorption coefficient k l for CO 2 in water is in the same range as reported for microstructured falling film devices. This example demonstrates the opportunity of using AM to produce innovative fluidic devices.