Emulsion-Templated Macroporous Polymer Micromixers

Micromixers were fabricated from emulsion-templated macroporous polymers, known as polymerizing high internal-phase emulsions (polyHIPEs). Micromixers are mixing elements containing submillimeter channels, in which mixing occurs by molecular diffusion in the laminar flow regime. PolyHIPEs possess an interconnected pore structure with connected channels, which are ideal to mix liquids. We investigated the residence time distribution of polyHIPE micromixers in comparison to a helix static mixer using a tracer method, which allows for quantifying the deviation from ideal plug flow. The axial dispersed flow was modeled, and the obtained axial dispersion number is in good agreement with that of commercial split-and-recombination micromixers. Two competitive parallel reactions (4th Bourne reaction) were performed to characterize the efficiency of micromixing of polyHIPE mixers. We show that polyHIPE micromixers are more efficient than a commercial helix static mixer.