Membrane Emulsification in the Jetting Regime

The pore size of the microengineered membrane (Aquamarijn, The Netherlands) was 10 tm, the flow velocity was v = 0.9ms and the transmembrane pressure pt = 3 bar. 

It can be seen that nearly all pores produce liquid jets. Some of them become unstable within the range of the picture, whereas in other cases, necking takes place in areas out of the focus of the microscope. Compared wit the pore diameter of 10 tm, the jet diameter was four to five times larger (in the range of40-50 tm). 

The velocity of the continuous phase of v = 0.6 m s and transmembrane pressure Ptm. = 2 bar were assumed. 

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Membrane emulsification in the jetting regime offers a possibility of increasing the throughput of disperse phase per pore. In order to allow a high pore density at the membrane surface, the jets have to break-up close to the pore in order to prevent interactions between two or more jets. Further investigation in this field will help to explore the potential of this technique. 

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