Alternating flow of immiscible liquids in microchannel

作者：Matsuno Hiroki; Hirano Hiroyuki^*; Nakagawa Tomohiro; Wang Xian; Okamoto Naotaka

来源：Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2012, 7: S48-S53.

DOI：10.1002/apj.633

• microreactors
• two-phase flow
• flow pattern
• surfactants

This article is an experimental study of the alternating flow of immiscible liquids in a microchannel. The two-phase flow system of water and cyclohexane was adopted. The flow was visualized by the use of the color dyes, and the segment length was measured to investigate the aspect of the alternating flow. Furthermore, the four kinds of surfactants (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), n-heptyl-beta-D-thioglucoside, and n-nonanoyl-N-methyl-D-glucamine (MEGA-9)) were dissolved into the water phase to change the fluid properties, and the effect of the fluid properties on the aspect of the alternating flow was studied. The alternating flow was also visualized with the use of the MachZehnder interferometer to observe the detailed aspect of the segments of each phase. As a result, it was concluded that the fluid properties are quite uniform, and there seems no prominent internal flow inside each segment. In addition, the segment length decreases with the increase of the fluid velocity and the decrease of the channel width and the interfacial tension between the two phases. After all, the segment length or the aspect ratio of the segment could be correlated well with the Capillary (Ca) number from Ca?=?0.0001 to 0.0015.

• 出版日期2012-5