Fluidic device finds novel way to make oil and water attract

Imagine making a mix of liquids that don't mix.

One of the grand challenges of science is unraveling the mystery of incompatible fluids, a development that could enhance many future products, industrial processes and even the food we eat.

The Australian research team has spent the last 10 years trying to find a way to use clean chemistry to find a solution to the mystery of mixing immiscibles.

This will have applications in a range of global industries, from food processing and nutraceuticals to cosmetics and drug delivery.

The mixing of immiscible liquids is important in process engineering and usually involves a lot of energy input and waste products.

Professor in Clean Technology says that the process can be used with a common solvent and water to avoid the use of other substance for controlling reactions.

Using thin-film microfluidics in combination with high shear flow chemistry and high heat and mass transfer, the rapidly evolving VFD technology is overcoming the mixing limitations of traditional batches.

We conducted over 100,000 experiments to establish how liquids mix and what their flow behaviors are at very small dimensions, says co-author Aghil Igder.

The team at Flinders University has increased the size of the VFD machine to make its organic substances and clean technologies available at scale to suit a range of industries.

A scaled-up version of the device which has been developed can be used to produce quality drug elements such as peptides, better fish oil and food products, and many other value-adding green chemical processes which can now be replicated in a scaled-up version of the device.

There is a published in Chemical Science.

Researchers from Guangzhou University in China, The University ofWA, University ofNewcastle, ANSTO and Flinders Microscopy and Microanalysis are all involved in the project.

More information: Matt Jellicoe et al, Vortex fluidic induced mass transfer across immiscible phases, Chemical Science (2022). DOI: 10.1039/D1SC05829K Journal information: Chemical Science Citation: Fluidic device finds novel way to make oil and water attract (2022, February 21) retrieved 21 February 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-02-fluidic-device-oil.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.