Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present a practical way to create three kinds of double emulsions such as double emulsion, double-component double emulsion and viscoelastic double emulsion.
Design/methodology/approach
– A hierarchical T-junction microfluidic device is selected to simulate this phenomenon. A system of the three-phase flows consists of the inner, middle and outer phases were simulated by the direct numerical simulation (DNS) method. The dripping regime is considered for the droplet formation in both T-junctions. The adaptive mesh refinement technique is used to simulate the droplet formation and determine the interface rupture.
Findings
– The one-step and two-step encapsulation are used to create the double emulsion and the viscoelastic double emulsion, respectively. In both T-junctions, droplets are created by the balance of three parameters which are instability, viscous drag and pressure buildup. The one-step formation of double emulsion is presented for encapsulates the viscoelastic fluid.
Originality/value
– The simulated hierarchical microchannel shows some desirable features for creating the complex compounds. The encapsulation process is simulated in micro-scale that is useful for drug delivery applications.
One-step generation of cell-laden microgels using double emulsion drops with a sacrificial ultra-thin oil shell
