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Tunable hydrodynamic focusing with dual-neodymium magnet-based microfluidic separation device

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Abstract

Microfluidic separation technologies are the focus of various biological applications, such as disease diagnostics, single-cell analysis, and therapeutics. Different methods and devices were proposed in the micro-separation field, focusing on minimizing the chemical deformation and physical damage to the particles throughout the separation process; however, it is still a challenge. This paper proposes a hydrodynamic focusing-based microfluidic separation device equipped with a dual-neodymium magnet for positive magnetophoretic microparticles and cell separation. Hydrodynamic focusing is used to help to sort the particles and minimize the damage to the microparticles through the proposed different inlet flow rates between the two focusing channels. The dual magnets help to separate the particles in two stages. The system’s novelty is integrating the hydrodynamic focusing with the dual magnetics system, where the hydrodynamic focusing is with variable inlet flow rates. The performance of the proposed microfluidic particle separator is numerically assessed under various operating parameters, including the concentration of the particle in the injected solution and flow rate ratios of high to the low focusing flows on the efficiency of the separation. Following the proposed separation method, it was possible to separate the 16 and 10 \(\mu\mathrm{m}\) microparticles with the first-round efficiency of 21% with a quality of 92%, respectively. The developed particle separation system can significantly broaden its applications in a variety of biomedical research studies.

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Abbreviations

a:

Spherical microparticle diameter (m)

\({\mathrm{D}}_{\mathrm{h}}\) :

Denotes the hydraulic diameter of the flow channel (m)

\({\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{D}}\) :

Hydrodynamic drag force (N)

\({\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{L}}\) :

Inertia lift force (N)

\({\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{m}}\) :

Magnetic force (N)

\({\mathrm{f}}_{\mathrm{L}}\) :

Lift coefficient

\({\mathrm{f}}_{\mathrm{D}}\) :

Drag coefficient

h:

Height of a rectangular channel (m)

H:

Magnetic field at the center of the microparticle (A.m−1)

\({m}_{p}\) :

Mass of the microparticle (kg)

\({N}_{tpd}\) :

Number of target particles that are damaged

\({N}_{tpo}\) :

Number of target particles collected at the target outlet

\({N}_{tpi}\) :

Number of target particles released at the inlet

\({N}_{opo}\) :

Number of other particles collected at the target outlet

\({\mathrm{Re}}_{\mathrm{c}}\) :

Local microchannel Reynolds number

\({\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{m}}\) :

Mean flow velocity of the fluid carrying the particles (m.s−1)

\({V}_{p}\) :

Particle volume (m3)

\({\mathrm{v}}_{\mathrm{f}}\) :

Fluid velocity (m.s−1)

\({v}_{p}\) :

Microparticle velocity (m.s−1)

\(\mathrm{w}\) :

Width of a rectangular channel (m)

\({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{C}}\) :

The microparticle position within the cross-section of the microchannel

\({\uprho }_{\mathrm{f}}\) :

The density of the fluid carrying the particles (kg.m−3)

\({\upmu }_{\mathrm{f}}\) :

Dynamic viscosity of the fluid carrying the particles (Pa.s)

\({\mu }_{o}\) :

Free space permeability (\(4\uppi \times {10}^{-7}{\mathrm{Hm}}^{-1}\))

\({\eta }_{1}\) :

One round separation efficiency

\(\psi\) :

Quality of the collection

\(\vartheta\) :

Percentage of damaged particles

\(\chi\) :

Magnetic susceptibility

\({\chi }_{p}\) :

Particle magnetic susceptibility

\({\chi }_{f}\) :

Fluid magnetic susceptibility

HFC:

Hydrodynamics focusing channel

UHFC:

Upper hydrodynamics focusing channel

LHFC:

Lower hydrodynamics focusing channel

HFCsI:

Hydrodynamics focusing channels intersection

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  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 10 King’s College Road, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G8, Canada

    Maan Al-Zareer

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Al-Zareer, M. Tunable hydrodynamic focusing with dual-neodymium magnet-based microfluidic separation device. Med Biol Eng Comput 60, 47–60 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-021-02438-3

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