Abstract
This article investigates the formation of albumin droplets in fatty esters by means of a flow focussing geometry where the continuous oil phase is introduced in the two lateral branches of a Y junction. The effect of the geometry is investigated in order to clarify the scales controlling the droplet generation with this type of fluid couple. The transition from regular droplet flow to stratified flow is identified from the experiments. It is found that the droplet size varies linearly with the flow rate ratio between the disperse and continuous phases. This is similar to what is found in T junctions microfluidic systems for low capillary numbers.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Conseil Régional de Picardie (France) project μFIEC. Pei Yuan He’s PhD grant was funded by the China Scholarship Council. The microchip moulds were manufactured by Dr. Laurent Griscom (UMR CNRS 8089 ENS Cachan, France). The authors would like to acknowledge the collaboration of Professor F. Edwards-Lévy (UMR CNRS 6229, Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, France) who suggested the use of fatty ester and HSA solution as a fluid system of interest for pharmaceutical applications.
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He, P., Barthès-Biesel, D. & Leclerc, E. Flow of two immiscible liquids with low viscosity in Y shaped microfluidic systems: effect of geometry. Microfluid Nanofluid 9, 293–301 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0546-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0546-y