Comparative study of zirconia based powders prepared by co-precipitation and in a microreactor with impinging swirled flows

Mesoporous nanosized xerogels and powders in the system ZrO2–Y2O3 are obtained by two techniques, including co-precipitation of hydroxides and micromixing in a microreactor with impinging swirled flows (MRISF). The phase composition, surface characteristics, microstructure and textural features of the prepared xerogels and powders are studied. Compared with the conventional co-precipitation procedure, MRISF technique provides xerogels with improved performances, including significantly lower hydrodynamic diameter, ζ-potential and agglomeration of the particles, probably due to a reduced content of active centers on their surface and high level of shear stresses in the course of the synthesis. Furthermore, the developed MRISF is shown to provide a continuous high-throughput process advantageous in respect of easy numbering-up instead of the conventional scaling-up. Particularly, the lab-scale MRISF device used in this study affords a daily output of the slurry up to 8.5 m3 yielding 200–300 kg/day of the target nanosized particles.