Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) resultant from the generation of nuclear power is a chemically and radiologically diverse system which is advantageous to chemically process prior to geologic disposal. Hydrometallurgy is the primary technology for chemical processing for light water reactor spent fuels, where spent fuel is dissolved in an acid...
The development of microfluidic devices for heavy metal extraction is presented in this dissertation. Various research areas, covering subjects from photochromic compound syntheses to microchip fabrication techniques are explored to develop microfluidic devices capable of extracting heavy metal ions from drinking water. Through integration of the beneficial characteristics of both...
The development of micro total analysis systems (µTAS), also called “lab-on-a-chip”, or microfluidic analysis systems, is presented in this dissertation. Various research areas, covering subjects from magnetic particles synthesis to novel microchip fabrication techniques, are explored to develop a lab-on-a-chip system capable of performing magnetic bead-based bioassays. These devices are...
The objectives of this research were to investigate the optimal conditions for anthocyanins extraction from different anthocyanin rich fruit and to develop microencapsulation formulation for improving stability of anthocyanin extracts. In the extraction optimization study, two extraction methods, "conventional solvent extraction (CE)" and "ultrasound-assisted extraction (UE)" for three different anthocyanin-rich...
Continuous liquid-liquid two-phase separation is needed in microfluidic devices. Due to the small characteristic lengths of microreactors, phenomena such as mass transport via molecular diffusion occur within seconds. Typically, discrete slugs of an extract are created within microchannels for high specific interfacial area to achieve intensified mass transfer. A challenge...
Analytical chemistry is an essential qualitative and quantitative tool to describe foods and biomaterials and their changes during production, processing and distribution. In this work, rapid analytical procedures for the extraction and quantification of components in fluid milk and diatom fermentation broth were developed. Analytical methods to measure the concentration...
In-situ vapor extraction is performed by applying a pressure differential across a hydrophobic porous membrane that forms a wall of the channel as a means of reducing the local quality of flow boiling within the channel. As the local quality is reduced, the heat transfer capability can be improve while...