Simultaneous impacts of acoustic and inertial forces on the separation of microparticles

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran

Abstract

The isolation of microparticles plays a crucial role in various applications, including biological and medical sciences. In this paper, the separation of polystyrene (PS) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) particles suspended in water is simulated using the acoustic field and channel geometry. The microchannel consists of two parts, a curve-shaped and a straight part. Passive separation occurs in the curve-shaped section due to the flow rotation in the microchannel, and the acoustic force acts and enhances the separation efficiency in the straight part. The acoustic field is created by a pair of aluminum transducers on a piezoelectric substrate. In this study, firstly, the separation of microparticles is done using a microchannel without an acoustic field, leading to a separation efficiency of 81%. The acoustic force is then applied to the microchannel and, the maximum separation efficiency of 94% is obtained. It is observed that the separation efficiency is directly related to the frequency of the acoustic field and inversely related to the inlet flow rate. It should be noted that there is an optimal value for the applied frequency due to the specific value of the channel width. Also, the amount of separation efficiency is improved by enhancing the inlet power. It is observed that as the distance between transducers and microchannels is enhanced, the separation efficiency is reduced.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1] P. Sajeesh, A.K. Sen, Particle separation and sorting in microfluidic devices: a review, Microfluid Nanofluid, (17) (2014) 1–52.
[2] M. Bayareh, An updated review on particle separation in passive microfluidic devices, Chemical Engineering and Processing - Process Intensification, (153) (2020)107984.
[3] A. Shiriny, M. Bayareh, On magnetophoretic separation of blood cells using Halbach array of magnets. Meccanica, (55) (2020) 1903–1916.
[4] M. Nazemi Ashani, M. Bayareh, B. Ghasemi, Acoustofluidic separation of microparticles: a numerical study, Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, (41) (2022) 3064-3076.
[5] J.J. Stickel, R.L. Powell, Fluid mechanics and rheology of dense suspensions, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech., (37) (2005) 129–49.
[6] O. Staufer, S. Antona, D. Zhang, J. Csatari, M. Schroter, J. W. Janiesch, S. Fabritz, I. Berger, I. Platzman, Microfluidic production and characterization of biofunctionalized giant unilamellar vesicles for targeted intracellular cargo delivery, Biomaterials, (264) (2021) 120203.
[7] Q. Li, S. Zhou, T. Zhang, B. Zheng, H. Tang, Bioinspired sensor chip for detection of miRNA-21 based on photonic crystals assisted cyclic enzymatic amplification method, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, (150) (2020) 111866.
[8] A. Lenshof, T. Laurell, Continuous separation of cells and particles in microfluidic systems, Chemical Society Reviews, (39) (2010) 1203-1217.
[9] A. Shiriny, M. Bayareh, Inertial focusing of CTCs in a novel spiral microchannel, Chemical Engineering Science, (229) (2020) 116102.
[10] A. Shiriny, M. Bayareh, a. Usefian, Inertial separation of microparticles suspended in shear-thinning fluids, Chemal Papers, (76) (2022) 4341–4350.
[11] J. Oakey, J. Allely, and D. W. Marr, Laminar-flow‐based separations at the microscale, Biotechnology Progress, (18) (2002) 1439-1442.
[12] M. Yamada, M. Nakashima, M. Seki, Pinched flow fractionation: continuous size separation of particles utilizing a laminar flow profile in a pinched microchannel, Analytical Chemistry, (76) (2004) 5465-5471.
[13] J. Shi, H. Huang, Z. Stratton, Y. Huang, T. J. Huang, Continuous particle separation in a microfluidic channel via standing surface acoustic waves (SSAW), Lab on a Chip, (24) (2009) 3354–3359.
[14] P. Li, Z. Mao, Z. Peng, L. Zhou, Y. Chen, P.-H. Huang, Acoustic separation of circulating tumor cells, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (112) (2015) 4970-4975.
[15] H. M. Ji, V. Samper, Y. Chen, C. K. Heng, T. M. Lim, L. Yobas, Silicon-based microfilters for whole blood cell separation, Biomedical microdevices, (10) (2008) 251-257.
[16] C. W. Shields IV, C. D. Reyes, G. P. López, Microfluidic cell sorting: a review of the advances in the separation of cells from debulking to rare cell isolation, Lab on a Chip, (15) (2015) 1230-1249.
[17] N. Nama, R. Barnkob, Z. Mao, C.J. Kähler, F. Costanzo, T.J. Huang Numerical study of acoustophoretic motion of particles in a PDMS microchannel driven by surface acoustic waves, Lab. Chip, 15 (12) (2015) 2700-2709.
[18] J.-C. Hsu, C.-H. Hsu, Y.-W. Huang, Acoustophoretic control of microparticle transport using dual-wavelength surface acoustic wave devices, Micromachines, 10 (1) (2019) 52.
[19] Z. Ma, D.J. Collins, Y. Ai, Single-actuator Bandpass Microparticle Filtration via Traveling Surface Acoustic Waves. Colloid and Interface Science Communications, (16) (2017) 6–9.
[20] J.L. Han, H. Hu, Q.Y. Huang, Y.L. Lei, Particle separation by standing surface acoustic waves inside a sessile droplet, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, (326) (2021) 112731.
[21] T.D. Nguyen, Y.Q. Fu, V.T. Tran, A.  Gautam, S. Pudasaini, H. Du, Acoustofluidic closed-loop control of microparticles and cells using standing surface acoustic waves, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, (318) (2020) 128143.
[22] J. Lei, F. Cheng, K. Li, Z. Guo, Numerical simulation of continuous separation of microparticles in two-stage acousto-microfluidic systems, Applied Mathematical Modelling, (83) (2020) 342-356.
[23] P.B. Muller, R. Barnkob, M. J. H. Jense, H. Bruus, A numerical study of microparticle acoustophoresis driven by acoustic radiation forces and streaming-induced drag forces, Lab on a Chip, (12) (2012) 4617-4627.
[24] F.J. Trujillo, P. Juliano, G. Barbosa-Canovas, K. Knoerzer, Separation of suspensions and emulsions via ultrasonic standing waves–A review, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, (21) (2014) 2151–2164.
[25] F.J. Trujillo, S. Eberhardt, D. Möller, J. Dual, K. Knoerzer, Multiphysics modelling of the separation of suspended particles via frequency ramping of ultrasonic standing waves, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, (20) (2013) 655–666.
[26] T. Franke, R.H.W. Hoppe, C. Linsenmann, L. Schmid, A. Wixforth, Optimal Control of Surface Acoustic Wave Actuated Sorting of Biological Cells, Trends in PDE Constrained Optimization. International Series of Numerical Mathematics, (165) (2014) 505-519.
[27] F. Petersson, A. Nilsson, C. Holm, H. Jonsson, T. Laurell, Separation of lipids from blood utilizing ultrasonic standing waves in microfluidic channels, The Royal Society of Chemistry, (129) (2004) 938-943.
AUT Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 7, Issue 1
2023
Pages 41-50

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics