Issue 4, 2018

Automated separation of immiscible liquids using an optically monitored porous capillary

Abstract

We report an automated procedure for the inline separation of two immiscible liquids based on a porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) capillary and a small number of inexpensive electronic components. By monitoring the light transmitted through fluid streams at the two outlets of the separator and iteratively adjusting a needle-valve located at one outlet until smooth time-invariant signals are observed at both outlets, the separator is capable of establishing complete liquid/liquid separation within minutes. Using mixtures of water and toluene as a test system, near quantitative recovery of the two liquids was achieved over a wide range of flow conditions without detectable cross contamination at either outlet. In a twenty-four hour test run, departures from complete separation occurred just three times, and on each occasion complete separation was automatically restored within ninety seconds. Further tests on other liquid/liquid mixtures showed that the automated separator is capable of rapidly and reliably inducing the separation of aqueous–organic, aqueous–fluorous and organic–fluorous mixtures, making it a versatile tool for numerous applications in fluidic analysis, synthesis and purification.

Graphical abstract: Automated separation of immiscible liquids using an optically monitored porous capillary

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Feb 2018
Accepted
05 Apr 2018
First published
16 May 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

React. Chem. Eng., 2018,3, 467-477

Automated separation of immiscible liquids using an optically monitored porous capillary

J. H. Bannock, T. Y. (. Lui, S. T. Turner and J. C. deMello, React. Chem. Eng., 2018, 3, 467 DOI: 10.1039/C8RE00023A

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