Theoretical analysis of a novel electrical field assisted membrane module comprising an array of microchannel units

A novel electrical field assisted membrane module consisting of an array of microchannel units, each microchannel unit comprised of a cylindrical pore and a charged ion-selective membrane layer, is analyzed theoretically. The governing equations for the flow and the electrical fields are solved analytically under the Debye-Huckel condition and the influences of the key parameters on the flow behavior of the system under consideration are investigated through numerical simulation. We show that for a fixed microchannel radius, the volumetric flow rate through a microchannel unit has a maximal value as the radius of the cylindrical pore varies. This maximum is independent of both the strength of the applied field and the density of the fixed charges in the membrane layer, but varies with the permittivity of the membrane layer.     

Inertial separation in a contraction-expansion array microchannel

We report a contraction-expansion array (CEA) microchannel that allows inertial size separation by a force balance between inertial lift and Dean drag forces in fluid regimes in which inertial fluid effects become significant. An abrupt change of the cross-sectional area of the channel curves fluid streams and produces a similar effect compared to Dean flows in a curved microchannel of constant cross-section, thereby inducing Dean drag forces acting on particles. In addition, the particles are influenced by inertial lift forces throughout the contraction regions. These two forces act in opposite directions each other throughout the CEA microchannel, and their force balancing determines whether the particles cross the channel, following Dean flows. Here we describe the physics and design of the CEA microfluidic device, and demonstrate complete separation of microparticles (polystyrene beads of 4 and 10 μm in diameter) and efficient exchange of the carrier medium while retaining 10 μm beads.     

The effect of membrane module configuration on extraction efficiency in an extractive membrane bioreactor

The extractive membrane bioreactor (EMB) is a new technology for the treatment of wastewaters containing poorly water-soluble organic compounds. It consists of a bioreactor linked to membrane modules which contain bundles of silicone rubber tubes. Wastewater is pumped through the tube lumens and the biomedium is circulated around the shell side. This paper describes two simple mathematical models developed to compare EMB flow configurations and the results of experiments performed to test the models. We show that tube side Reynolds number has a significant effect on the mass-transfer coefficient of the test pollutant (monochlorobenzene) through the membrane. We also show that, on scale up, for a constant wastewater membrane residence time, an EMB consisting of three membrane modules with tube side recycle flows ≈40 times the wastewaster flow will have a higher extraction efficiency than an equivalent EMB with plug flow inside the module.     

Optimization of module configuration in membrane gas separation

Mathematical models have been developed to optimize three configurations for membrane gas separation modules. The three systems include the single stage, the two stage, and the continuous membrane column (CMC). Analysis of the three systems is carried out for the case of enriching a binary mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, where the reject stream is the desired product. The cost optimization function includes the capital cost for compressors and membranes as well as the energy operating cost. The cost function is solved subject to a set of equality and inequality constraints. The equality constraints include the module balance equations and the permeation fluxes across the membrane. The inequality equations include constraints on mole fractions in permeate and reject streams, operating pressure, membrane area, and the amount of methane recovered in reject stream. Model equations for the three systems are solved using GINO, a program for nonlinear optimization. A quasi-Newton search method is selected and found quite efficient for solution of the equations. Over the range of parameters considered in the analysis, results show that the two stage configuration has a lower production cost than the other two systems. In addition, the operating cost for the CMC and the single stage systems are found to be comparable. Irrespective of this, the optimum amount of methane recovered is the highest for the CMC system. Although the optimum operating costs for the CMC and the single stage systems are higher than the two stage system, comparison should consider other factors including higher methane recoveries generated by the CMC system and the simplicity of design and operation for the single stage system.     

A review on hollow fiber membrane module towards high separation efficiency: Process modeling in fouling perspective

Hollow fiber microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane processes have been extensively used in water purification and biotechnology. However, complicated filtration hydrodynamics wield a negative influence on fouling mitigation and stability of hollow fiber MF/UF membrane processes. Thus, establishing a mathematical model to understand the membrane processes is essential to guide the optimization of module configurations and to alleviate membrane fouling. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of the hollow fiber MF/UF membrane filtration models developed from different theories. The existing models primarily focus on membrane fouling but rarely on the interactions between the membrane fouling and local filtration hydrodynamics. Therefore, more simplified conceptual models and integrated reduced models need to be built to represent the real filtration behaviors of hollow fiber membranes. Future analyses considering practical requirements including complicated local hydrodynamics and nonuniform membrane properties are suggested to meet the accurate prediction of membrane filtration performance in practical application. This review will inspire the development of high-efficiency hollow fiber membrane modules.     

Residence time distribution for electrokinetic flow through a microchannel comprising a bundle of cylinders

The electrokinetic flow of an electrolyte solution through a microchannel that comprises a bundle of cylinders is investigated for the case of constant surface potential. The system under consideration is simulated by a unit cell model, and analytical expressions for the flow field and the corresponding residence time distribution under various conditions are derived. These results are readily applicable to the assessment of the performance of a microreactor such as that which comprises a bundle of optical fibers. Numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the influences of the key parameters, including the thickness of the double layer, the strength of the applied electric field, the magnitude of the applied pressure gradient, and the characteristic sizes of a microchannel, on the residence time distribution. We show that the following could result in a shorter residence time: thin double layer, strong applied electric field, large applied pressure gradient, and small number of cylinders. Based on the thickness of the double layer, criteria are proposed for whether the flow field can be treated as a laminar flow or as a plug flow, two basic limiting cases in reactor design.     

Continuous dielectrophoretic separation of particles in a spiral microchannel

Particle separation is a fundamental operation in the areas of biology and physical chemistry. A variety of force fields have been used to separate particles in microfluidic devices, among which electric field may be the most popular one due to its general applicability and adaptability. So far, however, electrophoresis‐based separations have been limited primarily to batchwise processes. Dielectrophoresis (DEP)‐based separations require in‐channel micro‐electrodes or micro‐insulators to produce electric field gradients. This article introduces a novel particle separation technique in DC electrokinetic flow through a planar double‐spiral microchannel. The continuous separation arises from the cross‐stream dielectrophoretic motion of particles induced by the non‐uniform electric field inherent to curved channels. Specifically, particles are focused by DEP to one sidewall of the first spiral, and then dielectrophoretically deflected toward the other sidewall of the second spiral at a particle‐dependent rate, leading to focused particle streams along different flow paths. This DEP‐based particle separation technique is demonstrated in an asymmetric double‐spiral microchannel by continuously separating a mixture of 5/10 μm particles and 3/5 μm particles.     

Elastic-inertial separation of microparticle in a gradually contracted microchannel

Separation of microparticle in viscoelastic fluid is highly required in the field of biology and clinical medicine. For instance, the separation of the target cell from blood is an important prerequisite step for the drug screening and design. The microfluidic device is an efficient way to achieve the separation of the microparticle in the viscoelastic fluid. However, the existing microfluidic methods often have some limitations, including the requirement of the long channel length, the labeling process, and the low throughput. In this work, based on the elastic-inertial effect in the viscoelastic fluid, a new separation method is proposed where a gradually contracted microchannel is designed to efficiently adjust the forces exerted on the particle, eventually achieving the high-efficiency separation of different sized particles in a short channel length and at a high throughput. In addition, the separation of WBCs and RBCs is also validated in the present device. The effect of the flow rate, the fluid property, and the channel geometry on the particle separation is systematically investigated by the experiment. With the advantage of small footprint, simple structure, high throughput, and high efficiency, the present microfluidic device could be utilized in the biological and clinical fields, such as the cell analysis and disease diagnosis.     

Ethanol production in a bioreactor with an integrated membrane distillation module

Ethanol production in a bioreactor with integrated membrane distillation (MD) module has been investigated. A hydrophobic capillary polypropylene membrane (Accurel PP V8/2 HF), with an external/internal diameter ratio, d _out/d _in = 8.6 mm/5.5 mm and pore size 0.2 μm, was used in these studies. The products (mainly ethanol and acetic acid) formed during the fermentation of sugar with Saccharomyces cerevisiae inhibited the process. These products were selectively removed from the fermentation broth by the MD process, which increased the efficiency of the conversion of sugar to alcohol from 0.45 g to 0.5 g EtOH per g of fermented sucrose. The bioreactor efficiency also increased by almost 30 %. Separation of alcohol by the MD generates a higher yield of ethanol in the permeate than in the broth. The enrichment coefficient amounted to 4-8, and depended on the ethanol concentration in the broth. The separated solutions did not wet the membrane in use for 2500 h of the MD experiments and the retention of inorganic solutes was close to 100 %.     

Electrophoretic size separation of particles in a periodically constricted microchannel

The size separation of Brownian particles with the same free mobility in an electrophoretic microchannel with alternating thick regions and narrow constrictions is studied theoretically. The electrophoretic mobility is field dependent and generally increases with field strength. In weak fields, Brownian diffusion dominates and the migration is controlled by the entrance effect. Therefore, smaller particles migrate faster than larger ones. In strong fields, however, the particle tends to follow electric field lines. Smaller particles are susceptible to Brownian motion and thus influenced by the nonuniform electric field in the well significantly. As a result, larger particles possess higher mobilities. Our simulation results agree with the experimental observations and provide guidance for efficient nanofluidic separation.     

Development of a novel granular detergent with an interspersion particle comprising an anionic surfactant and a polymeric polycarboxalate

This paper discusses a process for making a novel granular detergent with an interspersion particle comprising an anionic surfactant and a polymeric polycarboxalate. This process contains three steps to develop the interspersion particles with anionic surfactant and polymeric ploycarboxalate. The first step was to form a detergent particle by spray drying of an aqueous detergent slurry comprising anionic surfactant (liner alkyl benzene sulfonate) with the different levels of polymeric polycarboxalate. In the second step, the spray-dried granules were densified and ground by a roll compacter and a grinder. The ground particles were coated by nonionic and zeolite in a vertical batch type high shear mixer (third step). In this study, the feasibility to make better performance of granular detergent was discussed.     

Ionic liquid as a suitable phase for multistep parallel synthesis of an array of isoxazolines

[reaction: see text]. A parallel array of isoxazoline diamides was prepared using an ionic liquid [bmim][BF4] as the phase where a three-step procedure (Schotten-Baumann, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, ester amidation with Me3Al) was carried out. At the end, selective extraction of the final products with diethyl ether allowed simple isolation of the 16 components of the array (Syncore technology).     

Improvement of proteolytic efficiency towards low-level proteins by an antifouling surface of alumina gel in a microchannel

A microfluidic reactor has been developed for rapid enhancement of protein digestion by constructing an alumina network within a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) microchannel. Trypsin is stably immobilized in a sol-gel network on the PET channel surface after pretreatment, which produces a protein-resistant interface to reduce memory effects, as characterized by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and electroosmotic flow. The gel-derived network within a microchannel provides a large surface-to-volume ratio stationary phase for highly efficient proteolysis of proteins existing both at a low level and in complex extracts. The maximum reaction rate of the encapsulated trypsin reactor, measured by kinetic analysis, is much faster than in bulk solution. Due to the microscopic confinement effect, high levels of enzyme entrapment and the biocompatible microenvironment provided by the alumina gel network, the low-level proteins can be efficiently digested using such a microreactor within a very short residence time of a few seconds. The on-chip microreactor is further applied to the identification of a mixture of proteins extracted from normal mouse liver cytoplasm sample via integration with 2D-LC-ESI-MS/MS to show its potential application for large-scale protein identification.     

A novel composite chitosan membrane for the separation of alcohol-water mixtures

A novel alcohol dehydration membrane with a three layer structure has been prepared. The top layer is a thin dense film of chitosan (CS), and the support layer is made of microporous polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Between the dense and microporous layer, there is an intermolecular cross-linking layer. This novel composite membrane has a high separation factor of more than 8000 and a good permeation rate of 0.26 kg/m² h for the pervaporation of 90 wt% ethanol aqueous solution at 60°C, 0.8 kg/m² h flux for a n-PrOH/water system and around 1 kg/m² h flux for an i-PrOH/water system using 80 wt% alcohol concentration at 60°C. The separation factor for both cases is more than 10⁵. The separation performance varies with feed composition, operating temperature and conditions of membrane preparation. The results show that the separation factor and flux of this membrane increase with raising the operating temperature. At the same time, the crosslinking layer improves durability of the composite membrane, and the pervaporation performance can be adjusted by changing the structure of the cross-linking layer. The cross section of the composite membrane has been examined by SEM.     

Continuous hydrophoretic separation and sizing of microparticles using slanted obstacles in a microchannel

We report a microfluidic separation and sizing method of microparticles with hydrophoresis--the movement of suspended particles under the influence of a microstructure-induced pressure field. By exploiting slanted obstacles in a microchannel, we can generate a lateral pressure gradient so that microparticles can be deflected and arranged along the lateral flows induced by the gradient. Using such movements of particles, we completely separated polystyrene microbeads with 9 and 12 microm diameters. Also, we discriminated polystyrene microbeads with diameter differences of approximately 7.3%. Additionally, we measured the diameter of 10.4 microm beads with high coefficient of variation and compared the result with a conventional laser diffraction method. The slanted obstacle as a microfluidic control element in a microchannel is analogous to the electric, magnetic, optical, or acoustic counterparts in that their function is to generate a field gradient. Since our method is based on intrinsic pressure fields, we could eliminate the need for external potential fields to induce the movement of particles. Therefore, our hydrophoretic method will offer a new opportunity for power-free and biocompatible particle control within integrated microfluidic devices.     

Preparation of an extractant-impregnated porous membrane for the high-speed separation of a metal ion

A novel impregnation method of extractants into a porous polymeric support is described. Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate (HDEHP) was impregnated onto an n-octadecylamino group of the polymer chain grafted onto the pore surface of a porous hollow-fiber membrane. First, an epoxy-group-containing polymer chain was appended onto the porous membrane by radiation-induced graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). Second, n-octadecylamine was added to the graft chain via an epoxy-ring opening reaction to yield a hydrophobic group density of 3.0 mmol/g of the GMA-grafted fiber. Finally, HDEHP was impregnated to the n-octadecylamino group. The amount of impregnated HDEHP of 2.1 mmol/g of the GMA-grafted fiber was attained while retaining the liquid permeability of the porous membrane. An yttrium solution was forced to permeate through the pores of the HDEHP-impregnated porous hollow-fiber membrane. The higher permeation rate of the yttrium solution led to the higher adsorption rate of yttrium because of a negligible diffusional mass-transfer resistance. In addition, a high stability of impregnated HDEHP was observed after the repeated use of adsorption with 50 mg-Y/L yttrium solution and elution with 7 M nitric acid.     

Concurrent recordings of bladder afferents from multiple nerves using a microfabricated PDMS microchannel electrode array

In this paper we present a compliant neural interface designed to record bladder afferent activity. We developed the implant's microfabrication process using multiple layers of silicone rubber and thin metal so that a gold microelectrode array is embedded within four parallel polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels (5 mm long, 100 μm wide, 100 μm deep). Electrode impedance at 1 kHz was optimized using a reactive ion etching (RIE) step, which increased the porosity of the electrode surface. The electrodes did not deteriorate after a 3 month immersion in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 37 °C. Due to the unique microscopic topography of the metal film on PDMS, the electrodes are extremely compliant and can withstand handling during implantation (twisting and bending) without electrical failure. The device was transplanted acutely to anaesthetized rats, and strands of the dorsal branch of roots L6 and S1 were surgically teased and inserted in three microchannels under saline immersion to allow for simultaneous in vivo recordings in an acute setting. We utilized a tripole electrode configuration to maintain background noise low and improve the signal to noise ratio. The device could distinguish two types of afferent nerve activity related to increasing bladder filling and contraction. To our knowledge, this is the first report of multichannel recordings of bladder afferent activity.     

Flow-injection analysis based on a membrane separation module and a bulk acoustic wave impedance sensor – determination of the volatile acidity of fermentation products

A novel flow-injection analysis (FIA) system has been developed for the rapid determination of the volatile acidity of some fermentation products like vinegars and juices. The proposed method is based on the diffusion of volatile acids, mainly acetic acid, across a PTFE gas-permeable membrane from an acid stream into an alkaline stream, and the acids trapped in the acceptor solution are determined online by a bulk acoustic wave impedance sensor based on changes in the conductivity of the solution. It exhibited a linear frequency response up to 10 mmol · L^–1 acetic acid with a detection limit of 50 μmol · L^–1, and the precision was better than 1% (RSD) at a through-put of 72 h^–1. The effects of operating voltage for the detector, cell constant of the electrode, composition of acceptor stream, flow rates and temperature on the FIA performance were also investigated.     

Flow-injection analysis based on a membrane separation module and a bulk acoustic wave impedance sensor – determination of the volatile acidity of fermentation products

A novel flow-injection analysis (FIA) system has been developed for the rapid determination of the volatile acidity of some fermentation products like vinegars and juices. The proposed method is based on the diffusion of volatile acids, mainly acetic acid, across a PTFE gas-permeable membrane from an acid stream into an alkaline stream, and the acids trapped in the acceptor solution are determined online by a bulk acoustic wave impedance sensor based on changes in the conductivity of the solution. It exhibited a linear frequency response up to 10 mmol · L^–1 acetic acid with a detection limit of 50 μmol · L^–1, and the precision was better than 1% (RSD) at a through-put of 72 h^–1. The effects of operating voltage for the detector, cell constant of the electrode, composition of acceptor stream, flow rates and temperature on the FIA performance were also investigated. Received: 2 June 1997 / Revised: 7 July 1997 / Accepted: 12 July 1997