Microflow extraction: A review of recent development

Micromixing Intensification within a Combination of T-Type Micromixer and Micropacked Bed

The combination of microstructural units is an effective strategy to improve the micromixing of liquid phase systems, especially viscous systems. However, how the microstructural combination influences micromixing is still not systematically investigated. In this work, the Villermaux/Dushman reaction is used to study the micromixing performance of the viscous system of the glycerol-water in the combination of a T-type micromixer and a micropacked bed. Micromixing performances under various structural parameters and fluid characteristics are determined and summarized, and the micromixing laws are revealed by dimensionless analysis considering the specific spatial characteristics and temporal sequence in the combined microstructures. It achieves good agreement with experimental results and enables guidance for the design and scaling-up of the combined T-type micromixer and micropacked bed towards micromixing intensification in viscous reaction systems.

Microfluidic preparation of a novel phoxim nanoemulsion pesticide against Spodoptera litura

With continuous development of pesticide dosage forms, emulsifiable concentrates using large amounts of organic solvents are gradually obsoleted. Nanoemulsions with high water content have been developed and the preparation processes also evolved, but these processes still exist some problems, such as poor controllability and high energy consumption. Microfluidic is a controllable nanoemulsion preparation system which mainly applied to pharmaceutical synthesis. In this study, the pesticide phoxim nanoemulsion was prepared by microfluidic technology. The optimized formulation of phoxim nanoemulsion was composed of Tween 80 and pesticide emulsifier 500 as surfactant, hexyl acetate as oil, and n-propanol as co-surfactant. Moreover, when the flow rates of water and oil in the microfluidic system were adjusted to 5 μL/min and 20 μL/min, phoxim nanoemulsion was obtained with a cloud point/boiling point of 109 °C, a particle size of 21.5 ± 0.8 nm and a potential value of - 18.7 ± 0.6 mV. Furthermore, the nanoemulsion had a rapid release effect in vitro which could be fitted by the Ritger-Peppas model. The feeding toxicity of the phoxim nanoemulsion was higher than that of commercial formulation while the contact killing effect was higher than that of the active ingredient. Therefore, pesticide dosage was reduced and the insecticidal effect was enhanced by using phoxim nanoemulsions. These results also confirm the potential of microfluidics as a green process to produce pesticide nanoemulsions.

A novel observation platform for determining the micro-dispersion performance in practical reaction systems

A novel observation platform by placing the downstream observation window vertically has been constructed, and the actual micro-dispersion state can be exactly reflected in the observation window.

Revisiting aromatic diazotization and aryl diazonium salts in continuous flow: highlighted research during 2001–2021

Aryl diazonium salts play an important role in chemical transformations; however their explosive nature limits their applications in batch.

Design and Manufacture of a Low-Cost Microfluidic System for the Synthesis of Giant Liposomes for the Encapsulation of Yeast Homologues: Applications in the Screening of Membrane-Active Peptide Libraries

The discovery of new membrane-active peptides (MAPs) is an area of considerable interest in modern biotechnology considering their ample applicability in several fields ranging from the development of novel delivery vehicles (via cell-penetrating peptides) to responding to the latent threat of antibiotic resistance (via antimicrobial peptides). Different strategies have been devised for such discovery process, however, most of them involve costly, tedious, and low-efficiency methods. We have recently proposed an alternative route based on constructing a non-rationally designed library recombinantly expressed on the yeasts’ surfaces. However, a major challenge is to conduct a robust and high-throughput screening of possible candidates with membrane activity. Here, we addressed this issue by putting forward low-cost microfluidic platforms for both the synthesis of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) as mimicking entities of cell membranes and for providing intimate contact between GUVs and homologues of yeasts expressing MAPs. The homologues were chitosan microparticles functionalized with the membrane translocating peptide Buforin II, while intimate contact was through passive micromixers with different channel geometries. Both microfluidic platforms were evaluated both in silico (via Multiphysics simulations) and in vitro with a high agreement between the two approaches. Large and stable GUVs (5–100 µm) were synthesized effectively, and the mixing processes were comprehensively studied leading to finding the best operating parameters. A serpentine micromixer equipped with circular features showed the highest average encapsulation efficiencies, which was explained by the unique mixing patterns achieved within the device. The microfluidic devices developed here demonstrate high potential as platforms for the discovery of novel MAPs as well as for other applications in the biomedical field such as the encapsulation and controlled delivery of bioactive compounds.

Preparation of Monodisperse Poly(Methyl Methacrylate)/Polystyrene Composite Particles by Seeded Emulsion Polymerization Using a Sequential Flow Process

We develop a sequential flow process for the production of monodisperse poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/polystyrene (PS) composite particles through a soap-free emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) using the first water-in-oil (W/O) slug flow and a subsequent seeded emulsion polymerization of styrene (St) using the second W/O slug flow. In this process, monodisperse PMMA seed particles are first formed in the dispersed aqueous phase of the first W/O slug flow. Subsequently, removal of the oil phase from the slug flow is achieved through a porous hydrophobic tubing, resulting in a single flow of the aqueous phase containing the seed particles. The aqueous phase is then mixed with an oil phase containing St monomer to form the second W/O slug flow. Finally, monodisperse PMMA/PS composite particles are obtained by a seeded emulsion polymerization of St using the second W/O slug flow. We compared the reaction performance between the slug flow and the batch processes in terms of particle diameter, monomer conversion, particle size distribution, and the number of particles in the system. We found that internal circulation flow within the slugs can enhance mass transfer efficiency between them during polymerization, which results in monodisperse PMMA/PS composite particles with a large particle diameter and a high monomer conversion in a short reaction time, compared to those prepared using the batch process. We believe that this sequential microflow process can be a versatile strategy to continuously produce monodisperse composite particles or core-shell particles in a short reaction time.

Liquid Flow and Mass Transfer Behaviors in a Butterfly-Shaped Microreactor

Based on the split-and-recombine principle, a millimeter-scale butterfly-shaped microreactor was designed and fabricated through femtosecond laser micromachining. The velocity fields, streamlines and pressure fields of the single-phase flow in the microreactor were obtained by a computational fluid dynamics simulation, and the influence of flow rates on the homogeneous mixing efficiency was quantified by the mixing index. The flow behaviors in the microreactor were investigated using water and n-butanol, from which schematic diagrams of various flow patterns were given and a flow pattern map was established for regulating the flow behavior via controlling the flow rates of the two-phase flow. Furthermore, effects of the two-phase flow rates on the droplet flow behavior (droplet number, droplet size and standard deviation) in the microreactor were investigated. In addition, the interfacial mass transfer behaviors of liquid-liquid flow were evaluated using the standard low interfacial tension system of "n-butanol/succinic acid/water", where the dependence between the flow pattern and mass transfer was discussed. The empirical relationship between the volumetric mass transfer coefficient and Reynold number was established with prediction error less than 20%.

A continuous flow process for biaryls based on sequential Suzuki–Miyaura coupling and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction

A continuous flow process for the production of biaryls based on the seamless coupling of a packed-bed reactor (synthesis module) and a rapid supercritical CO2 extraction system (extraction module) is reported.

Microfluidic Chip-Based Induced Phase Separation Extraction as a Fast and Efficient Miniaturized Sample Preparation Method

Induced phase separation extraction (IPSE) is an efficient sample clean-up technique that can replace liquid-liquid extraction (LLE). The purpose of this study was to miniaturize IPSE by carrying it out in a microfluidic chip. An IPSE chip was designed and evaluated for its ability to separate and purify samples on a microscale. The 5 × 2 cm chip was fed with a solution of polar to non-polar model compounds in acetonitrile-water (1:1). In the 100 µm wide and 40 µm deep microchannels, the sample solution was efficiently separated into two immiscible phases by adding a hydrophobic solvent as inducer. Analytes present in the sample solution each migrated to their own favorable phase upon phase separation. After optimization, extraction and fractionation were easily and efficiently achieved. The behavior of analytes with a pH-dependent partitioning could be influenced by adjusting the pH of the sample solution. Scutellaria baicalensis extract, used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), was successfully separated in aglycones and glycosides. In this microscale system, the sample and solvent consumption is reduced to microliters, while the time needed for the sample pretreatment is less than one minute. Additionally, the extraction efficiency can reach up to 98.8%, and emulsion formation is avoided.

Scale-Up Studies for Co/Ni Separations in Intensified Reactors

In this paper, the effect of the scalability of small-scale devices on the separation of Co(II) from a binary Co(II)/Ni(II) mixture in a nitric acid solution by an organic Cyanex 272/TBP/kerosene (Exxsol D80) phase is studied. In particular, circular channels with diameters of 1, 2, and 3.2 mm are considered. The results were compared against those from a confined impinging-jets (CIJ) cell with a main channel diameter of 3.2 mm. The effects of total flowrate, residence time, Cyanex 272 concentration, and flowrate ratio on the mass transfer performance were investigated. It was found that at increased channel size, the throughputs were also increased but the extraction percentages remained the same. Higher extraction percentages were obtained by using the CIJ configuration at short residence times. However, for longer residence times, the mass transfer coefficients were similar and capillary channels should be preferred over the CIJ because of the ease of separation of the two phases at the end of the unit. The overall mass transfer coefficients ranged between 0.02 and 0.14 s⁻¹ for the capillary channels during plug flow and between 0.05 and 0.45 s⁻¹ for the CIJ cells during dispersed flow.

Development of a Microfluidic Platform for R-Phycoerythrin Purification Using an Aqueous Micellar Two-Phase System

Temperature-dependent aqueous micellar two-phase systems (AMTPSs) have recently been gaining attention in the isolation of high-added-value biomolecules from their natural sources. Despite their sustainability, aqueous two-phase systems, and particularly AMTPSs, have not been extensively applied in the industry, which might be changed by applying process integration and continuous manufacturing. Here, we report for the first time on an integrated microfluidic platform for fast and low-material-consuming development of continuous protein purification using an AMTPS. A system comprised of a microchannel incubated at high temperature, enabling instantaneous triggering of a two-phase system formation, and a microsettler, allowing complete phase separation at the outlets, is reported here. The separation of phycobiliproteins and particularly the purification of R-phycoerythrin from the contaminant proteins present in the aqueous crude extract obtained from fresh cells of Gracilaria gracilis were thereby achieved. The results from the developed microfluidic system revealed that the fractionation performance was maintained while reducing the processing time more than 20-fold when compared with the conventional lab-scale batch process. Furthermore, the integration of a miniaturized ultrafiltration module resulted in the complete removal of the surfactant from the bottom phase containing R-phycoerythrin, as well as in nearly twofold target protein concentration. The process setup successfully exploits the benefits of process intensification along with the integration of various downstream processes. Further transfer to a meso-scale integrated system would make such a system appropriate for the separation and purification of biomolecules with high commercial interest.