Status of cross-flow membrane emulsification and outlook for industrial application

Production of uniform droplets using membrane, microchannel and microfluidic emulsification devices

“…The effect of process parameters on droplet generation behaviour in direct ME has been the subject of several reviews (Joscelyne and Trägårdh, 2000;Rayner and Trägårdh, 2002;Charcosset et al, 2004;Lambrich and Vladisavljević, 2004;Gijsbertsen-Abrahamse et al, 2004;Yuan et al, 2010). The main factors affecting the drop size are wetting properties and microstructure of the membrane (pore size distribution, pore shape, spatial distribution of the pores, pore tortuosity, etc), but other parameters also play an important role, such as transmembrane flux, shear stress on the membrane surface, viscosity of the continuous and dispersed phase, surfactant type and concentration, emulsion formulation, etc.…”

Stirred cell membrane emulsification for multiple emulsions containing unrefined pumpkin seed oil with uniform droplet size

“…Membrane emulsification (ME) can be used to prepare emulsions, with low mechanical stress [16] or even without any shear [17], at a low energy input compared with conventional emulsification methods and with better control of droplet size [18]. Crossflow ME, where dispersed phase is pressed through the microporous membrane while continuous phase flows along the membrane surface, is not convenient for production of larger droplets, typically over 15 μm, due to the need to recycle the dispersion over the membrane surface leading to damage to the previously formed drops within the pump and fittings of the system [19]. Larger diameter drops are appropriate for controlled release applications, or encapsulations, in food supplements and for crop nutrients and are often a precursor to the formation of a complex coacervate encapsulated particle.…”

Droplet generation in micro-sieve dispersion device

“…Several methods have been designed to give a mass production of emulsions, such as spontaneous emulsification with microchannel array (Kobayashi et al 2008), shear-induced emulsification with micro-junction array (Nisisako and Torii 2008), and shear-induced emulsification with microsieve plate (Geerken et al 2008). Among those methods, the cross flow shearing micro-sieve dispersion devices are usually used (Gijsbertsen- Abrahamse et al 2004). Abrahamse et al (2002) gave an investigation on the droplet generation process with a micro-sieve device and they found the droplet diameter decreased with an increasing number of active pores.…”