A Newly-Developed Device for Emulsification and Dispersion of Particles

Abstract

Free micro mixer (FMM), a unique machine for the emulsification of non-soluble solutions and the dispersion of coagulated particles, was newly developed. The complicated flow field, which is composed of elongation flow, shear flow and contractile flow, was employed for the emulsification and dispersion. The complicated flow field was realized by the flow through a micro gap generated by the spherical surface of a ball and the supporting wall. The gap size was controlled by the pushing force of the ball toward the wall by a spring and the pressure on the fluid given by a pump. This device has the following unique and very useful features: clogging free; contamination free; temperature rise free; freely rinsing; freely scale-up. Especially the important feature is that the data obtained by a labo-sacle FMM are directly usable as the recipe for the commercial plant FMM without considering about scale-up factor.