Research Article pubs.acs.org/journal/ascecg
Study of Extraction and Recycling of Switchable Hydrophilicity Solvents in an Oscillatory Microfluidic Platform Gabriella Lestari,† Moien Alizadehgiashi,‡ Milad Abolhasani,*,§ and Eugenia Kumacheva*,†,‡,⊥ †
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada ‡ Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 Saint George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada § Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7905, United States ⊥ Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 4 Taddle Creek Road, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9, Canada S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: One of the challenges in the development of green and sustainable chemical processing is solvent removal and subsequent replacement with another solvent in various steps of multistep syntheses, extraction, or purification. A promising alternative approach is the use of “switchable” solvents that change their properties on demand. The evaluation of the performance of switchable solvents in the entire extractionrecovery process, with a capability of efficient solvent recycling, is vital for their future applications. We report an oscillatory microfluidic platform to reproduce a complete cycle of CO2mediated extraction and recovery of switchable hydrophilicity solvents, with the capability of solvent recycling. The evaluation of the efficiency of solvent extraction and recovery in the entire process is achieved within 1.5 h, with
