ULTRASONIC FIELD-FLOW FRACTIONATION FOR PARTICLE SEPARATION

THIS PROJECT IS DEVELOPING A NOVEL SEPARATION TECHNOLOGY BASED ON NEW BULK SEPARATION PARAMETERS. FIELD-FLOW FRACTIONATION (FFF) IS A WELL ESTABLISHED SEPARATION METHOD FOR SEPARATION OF MACROMOLECULES AND PARTICLATES. SEPARATION IS EFFECTED BY THE COMBINED ACTION OF AN APPLIED FIELD FORCE AND A CARRIER FLUID INSIDE A THIN OPEN CHANNEL. RESEARCHERS ARE STUDYING AN INNOVATIVE SEPARATION METHOD. ULTRASONIC FIELD-FLOW FRACTIONATION, FOR SEPARATION AND CHARACTERIZZATION OF MACROMOLECULES, LARGE PARTICULATES, AND CELLULAR MATERIALS. ULTRASONIC FORCES HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO DISCRIMINATE BASED ON THE BULK ELASTICITY OF THE PARTICLES, AS WELL AS SHAPE, SIZE, AND DENSITY. THE PROJECT FABRICATES A PROTOTYPE APPRATUS TO DEMONSTRATE THE USEFUL APPLICATION OF ULTRASOUND TO FFF AND SPLIT-FLOW (SPLITT) CONTINUOUS SEPARATION SYSTEMS. RESEARCHERS ARE CHARACTERIZING AND EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND RESOLUTION OF THE TECHNOLOGY.