Upscaling microfluidic emulsification: the importance of sub-structure design in EDGE devices

When used for emulsion production, microfluidics are known their low energy usage and droplet monodispersity. However, current throughputs need to be improved realize larger scale microfluidic production. Here, we present the upscaled device called Multi EDGE, which use produce 10-µm hexadecane droplets in 0.5 wt% SDS solution at 0.3 m3/m2h a proof of concept study. The design dispersed phase supply channels is crucial, since higher flow resistance causes blow-up pressure faster pore refilling. In turn, this results high formation frequencies >1800 s−1 per unit, compared maximally 60 unit devices with low-resistance substructure, limited by refilling process. fluxes small show that these have potential upscaling, especially when substructure designed properly.