Microchannels static mixers

A number of approaches have been proposed for a continuous emulsification and improved control of product size distribution static mixers, membrane emulsification, and microchannel emulsification. For the last two, emulsions are produced by extruding a liquid through many individual pores or microchannels. 

An example for microchannels with structured internals are caterpillar micromixer, where the surfaces consist of ramp-Hke structures, moving the fluid constantly up and down and the fluid contact is achieved by a sequence of repeated sphtting-reshaping-recombination processes [5]. Sometimes simple foam stacks are used as static mixer for dispersing two immiscible phases. 

The microchannels can be divided into various types such as microchannels with partial overlapping (Figure 2.1 Id), microchannels with mesh contactors (Figure 2.lie) (porous membrane, sieve-like structure, etc.), microchannels with inlet Y- or T-shaped contactor (Figure 2.1 If), microchannels with static mixer (Figure 2.11g), and multichannel contactors with intermediate redispersion units (Figure 2.11h). 

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