Hydrodynamic characterization of phase separation in devices with microfabricated capillaries
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Published version
Author(s)
Radhakrishnan, Anand NP
Pradas, Marc
Sorensen, Eva
Kalliadasis, Serafim
Gavriilidis, Asterios
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Capillary microseparators have been gaining interest in downstream unit operations, especially for pharmaceutical, space, and nuclear applications, offering efficient separation of two-phase flows. In this work, a detailed analysis of the dynamics of gas-liquid separation at the single meniscus level helped to formulate a model to map the operability region of microseparation devices. A water-nitrogen segmented flow was separated in a microfabricated silicon-glass device, with a main channel (width, W = 600 μm; height, H = 120 μm) leading into an array of 276 capillaries (100 μm long; width = 5 μm facing the main channel and 25 μm facing the liquid outlet), on both sides of the channel. At optimal pressure differences, the wetting phase (water) flowed through the capillaries into the liquid outlet, whereas the nonwetting phase (nitrogen) flowed past the capillaries into the gas outlet. A high-speed imaging methodology aided by computational analysis was used to quantify the length of the liquid slugs and their positions in the separation zone. It was observed that during stable separation, the position of the leading edge of the liquid slugs (advancing meniscus), which became stationary in the separation zone, was dependent only on the outlet pressure difference. The trailing edge of the liquid slugs (receding meniscus) approached the advancing meniscus at a constant speed, thus leading to a linear decrease of the liquid slug length. Close to the liquid-to-gas breakthrough point, that is, when water exited through the gas outlet, the advancing meniscus was no longer stationary, and the slug lengths decreased exponentially. The rates of decrease of the liquid slug length during separation were accurately estimated by the model, and the calculated liquid-to-gas breakthrough pressures agreed with experimental measurements.
Date Issued
2019-06-11
Date Acceptance
2019-06-01
Citation
Langmuir, 2019, 35 (25), pp.8199-8209
ISSN
0743-7463
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
8199
End Page
8209
Journal / Book Title
Langmuir
Volume
35
Issue
25
Copyright Statement
© 2019 American Chemical Society. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b04202
Grant Number
EP/L027186/1
Subjects
Chemical Physics
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2019-06-11