Microfluidic Spontaneous Emulsification for Generation of O/W Nanoemulsions - Opportunity for In-Space Manufacturing.
Files
(Published version)
Date
2023
Authors
Schmidt, S.
Nguyen, A.T.
Vu, H.Q.
Tran, N.N.
Sareela, M.
Fisk, I.
Hessel, V.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Advanced healthcare materials, 2023; 12(23):2203363-1-2203363-18
Statement of Responsibility
Svenja Schmidt, Anh The Nguyen, Huy Quang Vu, Nam Nghiep Tran, Maria Sareela, Ian Fisk, and Volker Hessel
Conference Name
Abstract
The use of microfluidics for oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsification via spontaneous self-assembly is demonstrated. As this is known to be a longish process, both single- and multicontact microfluidic reactors are tested, the latter providing a longsome, constant microfluidic treatment to maintain advanced phase and interfacial mass transfer. Microfluidic devices provide strong advantages above conventional systems for spontaneous emulsification, with droplet sizes of 62 nm at desired surfactant-to-oil ratios (SOR) and a decrease of 90% in process time. Multicontact microfluidics have better performance than their single-contact counterparts, while critical aspects, e.g., process robustness, are also discussed. Ternary phase diagram analysis of the three components (oil, water, surfactant) allow to decide for the right mixing ratio and sequence of mixing steps for the nanoemulsions. Microfluidic spontaneous emulsification meets objective functions of the intended application to provide fortified beverages to astronauts in space exploration. In that viewpoint, an advantage is to achieve stable nanoemulsions at a level of concentrations much higher as compared to application (human intake), allowing a dilution factor to the final product of up to 100. This decreases notably the process time and allows for process flexibility, e.g., to dilute or tailor Earth-prepared nanoemulsion concentrate payloads in space.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
©2023 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.