Impact of fluid path geometry and operating parameters on l/l-dispersion in interdigital micromixers

The dispersion of two immiscible fluids in interdigital micromixers was investigated using silicon oil/water and n-heptane/water as test systems. The experiments revealed the dependence of the average droplet size and size distribution on geometrical parameters of the micromixer and operating conditions. The mean droplet size was found to be correlated with total volume flow, volume flow ratio and corresponding pressure drop of the two liquids for a given micromixer geometry, which could be explained in light of the energy input. As a major focus, the effect of mixing chamber geometry and feeding system geometry was investigated with regard to droplet size distribution by systematically varying decisive dimensions in the mixer and by changing the feeding structure. It was shown that reducing the slit height and the number of feeding channels had a significant effect on droplet size distribution, leading to a smaller mean droplet size. Furthermore, the dispersion efficiency was also investigated by an extraction process. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.