Effect of channel structure on preparation of a water-in-oil emulsion by polymer microchannels

✍ Scribed by Haijie Liu; Mitsutoshi Nakajima; Taiji Nishi; Toshinori Kimura

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 360 KB
• Volume: 107
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1438-7697
• DOI: 10.1002/ejlt.200501139

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Monodisperse water‐in‐oil emulsions were successfully prepared using a polymer microchannel (PMC) with hydrophobic properties and high anti‐alkalinity and fabricated by the molding injection method. We investigated the effect of the channel structure on the droplet preparation characteristics, including the average droplet diameter, the coefficient of variation (CV), the pressure range for stable droplet formation, and the critical flow velocity of the dispersed phase. Various PMC with different structures were fabricated and used for emulsification. The results indicated that the average droplet diameter and the CV did not change remarkably and that the critical flow velocity of the dispersed phase was increased slightly when we used PMC with different small rectangular‐shaped convexes in the channel. However, the pressure range for stable droplet formation widened, the CV decreased, and the critical flow velocity of the dispersed phase increased significantly with a decrease of the PMC equivalent diameter and an increase of the PMC length, which revealed greater stability and productivity of the emulsion droplets.