Gas-liquid-liquid extraction in a novel rotating microchannel extractor

In this work, a novel rotating microchannel extractor (RME) is designed and further used for the extraction of chromium (III) from water. Unexpectedly, the micro-extraction had the same effect as carrying out 2.9-stage cross-flow extractions. Various factors, including the gas intake methods, gas intake quantity (Q_g), distance between inner rotor and outer wall (D), rotational inner rotor speed (R) and volumetric flow rate (Q_a, Q_o), were selected to investigate their effect on the extraction efficiency (η) thoroughly. The relation map of η with We_a and We_o−g for RME provides a comprehension for the gas–liquid–liquid extraction process in this RME system.