(142as) Microfluidic Characterization of Immiscible Oil-Seawater-Silicate Multiphase Flow

The phase behavior of solid-liquid-liquid flow is a problem of considerable societal importance, including applications in the production of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, petroleum and natural gas production, and water sustainability.  As an example, the Deep Water Horizon catastrophe is regarded as the worst ecological disaster in the history of the United States.  Remediation immediately following the disaster involved spraying dispersants in the deep sea, at the reservoir head, and on the ocean surface.  Understanding the complex interactions of immiscible phases in such an emergency is necessary to minimize the environmental impact.  Microfluidic devices were exploited to develop such understanding, and as a result new insight on the stability of oil-seawater multiphase laminar flow in the presence of colloidal aggregates has been revealed.  The characterization of such phase behavior has the potential to impact multiphase microscale flows that involve surfactant chemistry.  The need to develop, from first principles, controlled heterogeneous operations in microfluidic systems is growing.