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Effect of surfactants on drop formation flow patterns in a flow-focusing microchannel

Kalli, M; Angeli, P; (2022) Effect of surfactants on drop formation flow patterns in a flow-focusing microchannel. Chemical Engineering Science , 253 , Article 117517. 10.1016/j.ces.2022.117517. Green open access

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Abstract

The formation of droplets in an immiscible liquid in the presence of different surfactants was studied experimentally using a flow-focusing microchannel. A low viscosity silicone oil (4.6 mPa s) was used as the continuous phase and a mixture of 48% w/w water and 52% w/w glycerol was the dispersed phase. A cationic (CMCDTAB = 20 mM), an anionic (CMCSDS = 11 mM), and a non-ionic (CMCTX100 = 3.5 mM) surfactant were added in the aqueous phase, at several concentrations. Five patterns of drop formation were identified, namely squeezing, dripping, jetting, threading and tip streaming/jetting, whose boundaries were affected by the surfactant type and concentration. Using dynamic interfacial tension values, it was possible to plot a universal flow pattern map with the capillary numbers of the two phases as coordinates, where the transition boundaries between the dripping and the jetting patterns collapsed for all fluid systems considered, including the solutions with and without surfactants.

Type: Article
Title: Effect of surfactants on drop formation flow patterns in a flow-focusing microchannel
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2022.117517
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2022.117517
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Drop formation pattern maps, Flow pattern transitions, Surfactants, Dynamic interfacial tension, Capillary number, Flow-focusing microchannel
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148662
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