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Droplet generation at T-junctions in parallelized microchannels

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Abstract

Microchemical technology is an advanced chemical production technology and the large-scale production for industrial applications is realized by parallelization of microchannels. In this paper, the emulsification process and numbering-up of droplets in asymmetric parallelized microchannels with T-junction are investigated, and the effects of fluid properties and operating conditions on droplet size are analyzed. The droplet generation process is divided into waiting stage, filling stage, necking stage, and pinch-off stage, according to the variation of the characteristic length scale during droplet generation. The flow patterns of droplet swarm in cavities and their influence on fluid distribution are analyzed. The droplet size prediction equation and fluid distribution model in asymmetric parallelized microchannel are constructed. The phenomenon of droplet asynchronous generation due to the coupling of parallelized microchannels during the numbering-up process is analyzed. The effect of asynchronous generation on droplet monodispersity is investigated and the mothod for the prevention of this effect is proposed.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Taotao Fu, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The financial supports for this project from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21878212) and the exploratory project of the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (No. SKL-ChE-22T07) are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Zhongdong Wang, Xingyu Xiang, Sajawal Raza, Asad Ullah, Chunying Zhu, Tianyang Feng, Youguang Ma & Taotao Fu

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  1. Zhongdong Wang
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  2. Xingyu Xiang
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  8. Taotao Fu
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Contributions

Conceptualization: [Zhongdong Wang], [Taotao Fu];

Methodology: [Zhongdong Wang], [Taotao Fu];

Formal analysis and investigation: [Zhongdong Wang], [Xingyu Xiang], [Sajawal Raza], [Asad Ullah], [Chunying Zhu], [Tianyang Feng], [Youguang Ma], [Taotao Fu];

Writing—original draft preparation: [Zhongdong Wang];

Writing—review and editing: [Zhongdong Wang], [Xingyu Xiang], [Sajawal Raza], [Asad Ullah], [Chunying Zhu], [Tianyang Feng], [Youguang Ma], [Taotao Fu];

Funding acquisition: [Taotao Fu];

Resources: [Taotao Fu];

Supervision: [Taotao Fu].

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tianyang Feng or Taotao Fu.

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Wang, Z., Xiang, X., Raza, S. et al. Droplet generation at T-junctions in parallelized microchannels. J Flow Chem 14, 313–327 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41981-023-00281-1

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