A process for producing a microemulsion or nanoemulsion comprising water and at least one hydrocarbon or oil, comprising the steps of: a) providing the hydrocarbon or oil, water, one or more additives, a solvent, and a hydrophilic surfactant formulation comprising an amine or amide derivative non-ionic surfactant which is a fatty acid alkanolamide, one or more ethoxylated alcohols and/or ethoxylated alkylphenols, and a non-ionic fatty acid ester; b) by a mixing or stirring device operating at a mixing or stirring speed in the range 100 rpm and 15000 rpm, mixing or stirring the hydrophilic surfactant formulation and additive into the solvent, to produce a hydrophilic self-emulsifying blend; c) adding water to the hydrophilic self-emulsifying blend and the hydrocarbon or oil to produce a water-in-hydrocarbon/oil microemulsion or nanoemulsion, wherein the microemulsion or nanoemulsion comprises: 46% or more by mass of the hydrocarbon or oil, 4% to 36% by mass of water, a mass ratio of hydrophilic surfactant formulation to water in the range 1:10 to 1:2, 0.1% to 5% by mass of additive, 1.2% or more by mass of the solvent, a dispersed particle size in the range 1 nm to 500 nm, and a polydispersity index of 35% PdI or less, wherein the percentages by mass of the hydrocarbon or oil, water, formulation, additive and solvent together add up to 100%.

A flow-through cavitation device having an elongated housing with an inlet and an outlet. An inner annular body and an outer annular body are concentrically and nestingly disposed in the elongated housing. The outer annular body is fixed relative to the housing and the inner annular body is rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the housing. Each annular body has a plurality of channels that pass therethrough. Rotation of the inner body relative to the outer body provides for selective alignment or misalignment of the plurality of channels to control fluid flow from the inlet to the outlet. The device may have a plurality of pairs of inner and outer annular bodies as described.

Various aspects of the present invention relate to the control and manipulation of fluidic species, for example, in microfluidic systems. In one aspect, the invention relates to systems and methods for making droplets of fluid surrounded by a liquid, using, for example, electric fields, mechanical alterations, the addition of an intervening fluid, etc. In another aspect, the invention relates to systems and methods for dividing a fluidic droplet into two droplets, for example, through charge and/or dipole interactions with an electric field. The invention also relates to systems and methods for fusing droplets, according to another aspect of the invention, for example, through charge and/or dipole interactions. Another aspect of the invention provides the ability to determine droplets, or a component thereof, for example, using fluorescence and/or other optical techniques (e.g., microscopy), or electric sensing techniques such as dielectric sensing.

A cavitation device and method for using the same is useful for cavitationally treating fluids by generation of hydrodynamic cavitation in the fluid followed by the subsequent collapse of cavitation bubbles. The passage of fluid through slot openings in a cylindrical insert mounted in a housing provides fluid jets in an annular cavity to induce hydrodynamic cavitation of the fluid. Fluid is discharged from the annular cavity into a downstream portion of the housing to collapse cavitation bubbles under static pressure.

An apparatus for preparing a water/diesel oil micro-emulsion comprises a diesel oil feeding unit (2), an emulsifying composition feeding unit (3), a water feeding unit (4), a mixing tank (5) in fluid communication with the diesel oil feeding unit (2), with the emulsifying composition feeding unit (3) and with the water feeding unit (4). A mixing device (22) is operatively connected to the mixing tank (5). The mixing device (22) comprises a duct (39) extending along a main direction (X-X) and presenting an inlet opening (40) and an outlet nozzle (41). A cone shaped septum (60) is placed in the duct (39), coaxial with respect to the main direction (X-X) and tapering towards the outlet nozzle (41). The cone shaped septum (60) is provided with a plurality of holes (65) made through its conical wall (63). A plurality of lamellae (76, 80) are arranged in at least a portion of the duct (39) placed downstream of the cone shaped septum (60). The plurality of lamellae (76, 80) divides said portion in a plurality of small chambers (77, 82) and are provided with through holes (78, 81). The holes (78, 81) and the small chambers (77, 82) delimit a labyrinth passageway for the liquid flowing through the duct (39) towards the outlet nozzle (41). The water/diesel oil micro-emulsion is obtained by recirculating a batch contained in the mixing tank (5) and comprising the diesel oil, the emulsifying composition and the water through a recirculation conduit and through the mixing device (22).

A vehicle exhaust system includes an upstream exhaust component comprising at least a first catalyst having a first outer dimension, a downstream exhaust component comprising at least a second catalyst having a second outer dimension, and a mixer that connects the upstream and downstream exhaust components. The mixer comprises a first portion associated with an outlet from the first catalyst and a second portion associated with an inlet to the second catalyst. The first portion includes a swirl component having a first length and the second portion includes an additional component having a second length. A connection interface between the first and second portions allows the upstream and downstream exhaust components to be arranged in different positions relative to each other. A combined length of the first and second lengths is adjusted relative to the first and second outer dimensions to achieve a desired position of the upstream and downstream exhaust components relative to each other.

An apparatus for manufacturing water having a high concentration of dissolved ozone is characterized by being configured by connecting: a filtering device; a water tank connected to the filtering device; a pump connected to the water tank; a Venturi tube connected to the pump; a first gas dissolving pressure device connected to the Venturi tube; and a second gas dissolving pressure device connected to the first gas dissolving pressure device.

A static mixing apparatus for mixing a fluid, preferably a liquid is provided. The mixer comprises a plurality of chambers (5, 8, 12, 15) in series, the first chamber (5) of the series comprising a fluid inlet (4), and the final chamber (15) of the series comprising a fluid outlet (16), each chamber other than the final chamber in the series being in fluid connection with a subsequent chamber, the fluid connection comprising a plurality of orifices (7, 10, 11, 14) dispersed along a direction of flow, the nearest point to the fluid inlet of each subsequent orifice to the inlet overlapping with the furthest point from the fluid inlet of the previous orifice, and being off-set along the direction of flow from the previous orifice.

A flow-through cavitation device having an elongated housing with an inlet and an outlet. An inner annular body and an outer annular body are concentrically and nestingly disposed in the elongated housing. The outer annular body is fixed relative to the housing and the inner annular body is rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the housing. Each annular body has a plurality of channels that pass therethrough. Rotation of the inner body relative to the outer body provides for selective alignment or misalignment of the plurality of channels to control fluid flow from the inlet to the outlet. The device may have a plurality of pairs of inner and outer annular bodies as described.

Various aspects of the present invention relate to the control and manipulation of fluidic species, for example, in microfluidic systems. In one aspect, the invention relates to systems and methods for making droplets of fluid surrounded by a liquid, using, for example, electric fields, mechanical alterations, the addition of an intervening fluid, etc. In some cases, the droplets may each have a substantially uniform number of entities therein. For example, 95% or more of the droplets may each contain the same number of entities of a particular species. In another aspect, the invention relates to systems and methods for dividing a fluidic droplet into two droplets, for example, through charge and/or dipole interactions with an electric field. The invention also relates to systems and methods for fusing droplets according to another aspect of the invention, for example, through charge and/or dipole interactions. In some cases, the fusion of the droplets may initiate or determine a reaction. In a related aspect of the invention, systems and methods for allowing fluid mixing within droplets to occur are also provided. In still another aspect, the invention relates to systems and methods for sorting droplets, e.g., by causing droplets to move to certain regions within a fluidic system. Examples include using electrical interactions (e.g., charges, dipoles, etc.) or mechanical systems (e.g., fluid displacement) to sort the droplets. In some cases, the fluidic droplets can be sorted at relatively high rates, e.g., at about 10 droplets per second or more. Another aspect of the invention provides the ability to determine droplets, or a component thereof, for example, using fluorescence and/or other optical techniques (e.g., microscopy), or electric sensing techniques such as dielectric sensing.