Dynamics of Spontaneous Emulsification in Microchannels

微通道中自发乳化的动力学

• 批准号: 2223988
• 负责人: Thomas Cubaud
• 金额: $ 35.96万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2223988&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dynamics; Spontaneous; Emulsification; Microchannels

This award will investigate the basic multiphase flow properties of mixtures made of oil, water, and organic solvents at small scales. The phenomenon of spontaneous emulsification refers to the natural formation of droplets due to the presence of a miscible solvent in oil-water systems and offers great opportunities for tailoring the properties of soft materials and developing innovative methods for the treatment of oil and aqueous products in a range of industries, including pharmaceutical, personal care, food, energy, and in the environment. While the multiphase flow behavior of pure substances is relatively well understood, less is known about the influence of fluid additives, which significantly alter material properties and flow arrangements. Here, an integrated suite of teaching and research activities is designed to unravel the physics of multiphase flows in the presence of miscible solvents and develop new predictive knowledge into an array of captivating fluid phenomena of fundamental and practical interests. This award will provide a wide range of educational opportunities for a diversity of students in an inclusive and well-structured environment and original outreach activities will stimulate the curiosity of the public at large.This award will formulate the relationships between material properties and liquid-liquid multiphase flows using advanced microfluidic protocols. A series of hypothesis-driven inquiries will quantitatively elucidate various microscale transport phenomena resulting from the addition of miscible solvents, such as alcohols, in immiscible liquid-liquid multiphase flows. Alcohols compose an important class of simple organic compounds with a myriad of practical uses as extractants, antiseptics, detergents, biofuels, wetting agents, viscosity modifiers, or emulsifiers. The proposed research will lay the scientific foundations for improved manipulations of aqueous-oil multiphase flows with alcohol solvents and characterize out-of-equilibrium fluid interactions resulting from the interplay of interfacial tension and diffusion phenomena in microflow geometries. Functional relationship of flow pattern characteristics will be established across a broad range of solvent concentration for both ‘water-in-oil’ and ‘oil-in-water’ multiphase flows. Interfacial phenomena leading to the generation of colloidal dispersions at ultralow interfacial tension will be methodically accessed over vast ranges of length-scales and timescales using well-characterized microgeometries and leading-edge imaging and diagnostic techniques. Broad variations of flow velocity and fluid properties will delineate significant regions of uncharted flow regimes and enable opportunities for scientific discoveries. Ultimately, a general, unifying theoretical framework will be developed to characterize the role of liquid solubility on the fundamentals of multiphase flows.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项将研究由油、水和有机溶剂组成的混合物在小尺度下的基本多相流动特性。自发乳化现象是指由于在油-水系统中存在可混溶溶剂而自然形成液滴，并为定制软材料的性质和开发用于在一系列行业（包括制药、个人护理、食品、能源和环境）中处理油和水性产品的创新方法提供了巨大的机会。虽然纯物质的多相流动行为是相对较好的理解，很少有人知道流体添加剂的影响，显着改变材料的性能和流动安排。在这里，一套完整的教学和研究活动的目的是解开多相流的物理在混溶溶剂的存在下，并开发新的预测知识到一系列迷人的流体现象的基本和实际利益。该奖项将在一个包容和结构良好的环境中为不同的学生提供广泛的教育机会，原创的外展活动将激发公众的好奇心。该奖项将使用先进的微流体协议制定材料属性和液-液多相流之间的关系。一系列的假设驱动的调查将定量地阐明各种微观传输现象所造成的，从另外的混溶性溶剂，如醇类，在不混溶的液-液多相流。醇类是一类重要的简单有机化合物，具有多种实际用途，如萃取剂、防腐剂、洗涤剂、生物燃料、润湿剂、粘度调节剂或乳化剂。拟议的研究将奠定科学基础，改进操作的水-油多相流与醇溶剂和表征的平衡流体相互作用所产生的界面张力和扩散现象的相互作用，在微流几何形状。将在“油包水”和“水包油”多相流的宽范围溶剂浓度内建立流型特征的函数关系。界面现象导致在超低界面张力的胶体分散体的产生将有条不紊地访问在广阔的范围内的长度尺度和时间尺度，使用良好的特点microgeometries和前沿的成像和诊断技术。流速和流体性质的广泛变化将描绘出未知流动状态的重要区域，并为科学发现提供机会。最终，一个通用的，统一的理论框架将被开发出来，以表征液体溶解度对多相流的基本原理的作用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。