Abstract
This paper describes a development of triple-coaxial flow device to fabricate micro-tube for microbial culture. Microbes are used in many fields, such as food, medicine, environmental and energy. We proposed a microbial culture system using hydrogel micro-tubes, which can protect the target microbes inside from competitive microbes outside of the tubes while allow oxygen and nutrition to diffuse through. The hydrogel microtubes can be produced by a microfluidic device, which can precisely control the flow and therefore, the tube geometry. For practical applications of the microtube-based microbial culture, it is important to produce a hydrogel micro-tube continuously. We proposed and developed a fluidic system that can produce micro-tube serially. We characterized the triple-coaxial flow device and verified the availability of the system.
