Optimisation of microemulsion production in microfluidic system

U ovom radu proveden je postupak optimiranja pripreme mikroemulzija ulje u vodi i ulje i vodenom ekstraktu mente u mikroprotočnom sustavu uz emulgator polietilen glikol (PEG1500, 6000 i 20000). Ispitan je utjecaj količine emulgatora, količine ulja i ukupnih protoka na stabilnost mikroemulzija koja je izražena zeta potencijalom i Feretovim promjerom te su određeni optimalni procesni uvjeti za 6 sustava pripreme mikroemulzija. Na temelju dobivenih vrijednosti zeta potencijala kao najstabilnije su se pokazale emulzije pripremljene s vodom kao kontinuiranom fazom i emulgatorom PEG1500 te je uočeno da vrijednost zeta potencijala opada porastom molekulske mase upotrijebljenog emulgatora. Nadalje izabrani emulgatori ne osiguravaju zadovoljavajuću stabilnost emulzija ako se kao kontinuirana faza upotrijebi vodeni ekstrakt mente. Umjetne neuronske mreže pokazale su se pouzdanima u predviđanju Feretovog promjera kapljica emulzija ulje u vodi za sve analizirane sustave. In this work, optimisation of oil in water and oil in peppermint extract microemulsion preparation in microfluidic system using polyethylene glycol as emulsifier (PEG 1500, 6000 and 20000) was performed. The effect of the emulsifier amount, oil amount and total flow rate on the microemulsion stability expressed as zeta potential and Feret diameter was analysed. Optimal process conditions for microemulsion preparations were estimated for all 6 analysed systems. Based on the zeta potential, the most stable emulsions were prepared with water as continuous phase and using PEG 1500 as emulsifier. It was observed that with the increase of emulsifier molecular weight value of zeta potential decreases. Furthermore, the selected emulsifiers did not ensure satisfactorily stability for emulsions when the aqueous extract of mint was used as the continuous phase. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were shown reliable for prediction of Feret diameter of droplets in oil in water emulsions for all analysed systems.