Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 23(2), 131 (2007).

Flow Velocity Profile of Micro Counter-Current Flows
Arata AOTA,*1 Akihide HIBARA,*1,*2,*3 Kyosuke SHINOHARA,*4 Yasuhiko SUGII,*5 Koji OKAMOTO,*4 and Takehiko KITAMORI*1,*2
*1 Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
*2 Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology, 3-2-1 Sakado, Takatsu, Kawasaki 213-0012, Japan
*3 PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
*4 Department of Quantum Engineering and Systems Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
*5 Research Institute for Science and Technology, Kogakuin University, 2665-1 Nakano, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0015, Japan
Flow velocity profiles of micro counter-current flow of aqueous and butylacetate phases in a microchannel having a width of 100 µm were measured by micro particle image velocimetry. In order to analyze the hydrodynamic characteristics of the counter-current flow, we derived a simple analytical model for the velocity profile. When flow rates of the aqueous and organic phases were 0.2 and 0.1 µl/min, the model agreed well with the experimental results. Predictions about the velocity profile will contribute to estimation of the extraction efficiency in the co-current and counter-current extraction process.