Water-in-oil emulsion separation within a milli-fluidic device

A milli-fluidic method capable of continuous passive separation of water-in-oil emulsions with an efficiency of ∼90% is described. Experiments used high oleic sunflower oil or mineral oil as the continuous phase and aqueous solutions of methylene blue, crystal violet, or dextran with methylene blue as the dispersed phase. To achieve continuous passive separation, a device with opposing channel walls of disparate hydrophobicity is used to stabilize cocurrent laminar flow of oil and water. The disparity in hydrophobicity of the channel walls is accomplished by defining one length of the channel with a hydrogel, in this case polyethylene glycol. Emulsion separation is facilitated by introducing the emulsion at the water/hydrogel interface. Advantages of performing separations at the milli-fluidic scale are presented.