title: Laminated thin-film Teflon chips for petrochemical applications.
abstract: We present Teflon-based microfluidic chips fabricated by laminating multiple layers of laser-cut Teflon film. In addition to being solvent-resistant, these chips enable simple multilayer fabrication, have uniform rectangular cross-section and are sufficiently thin to (1) reduce cost, (2) enable rapid temperature control, and (3) provide optical transparency. The chips can be fabricated without a cleanroom from start to finish in less than 2 h. We demonstrate the potential of this approach by measuring the displacement of an oil solution by carbon dioxide in a nine-layer thin-film Teflon chip modelling porous media. Optical transparency through the 9-layers enables the determination of an oil recovery rate. We also demonstrate a thin-film chip measurement of the viscosity of heavy oil/toluene mixtures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: de Haas
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fadaei
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sinton
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009821:Oils / Q000737:chemistry; D010578:Petroleum; D016062:Porosity; D012996:Solutions; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature; D014050:Toluene / Q000737:chemistry; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D009821:Oils; D010578:Petroleum; D012996:Solutions; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D014050:Toluene