Currently I'm using flow focusing device to generate micro droplets. Continuous phase is mineral oil and disperse phase is HA-PG. HA-PG is a kind of HA acid and it dissolves with water.
Because the device was not properly cleaned after the experiment, the HA-PG gelled and clogged in the microchannel.
I tried to unclog it in several ways.
1. The microchannel was filled with water under vacuum and ultrasonically cleaned.
2. Water at about 80°C was placed in the microchannel in the same way, and ultrasonically cleaned.
Result
I was able to clear some of the clogging, but I couldn't clear the clogging in the thinnest part of the device.
The shape of the device is as shown in the picture. The area circled by the marker is clogged and water is no longer flowing.
I want to know what kind of chemical can dissolve this protein gel. According to the manufacturer of the device, acidic and alkaline chemicals cannot be used with this device. Any organic chemicals can be used.
I have no knowledge of chemistry and am in great trouble. I would appreciate it if you could answer my question.
We've cleaned our glass microfluidic chips with dimethyl sulfoxide, but our experiments were with PVA and PLGA
Hello Kota,
Unfortunately, sometimes clogging happen in microfluidic experiments. First of all, I recommend you to contact the manufacturer (Dolomite). If they did not have any solution, I have a trick for removing the clogs from PDMS devices and I hope it can help you and other researchers. Please make a 1% SDS water solution, run it from the OUTLET of your channel. Please adjust the flow rate until the particles get completely out of your microfluidic device. You can vacuum the inlets to make sure all particles are out. After you finish, run 10 mL of SDS solution this time from the inlets and then vacuum it.
Hello Seyedmohsen Vaziri
Thank you for sharing the tips. Unfortunately, dolomite doesn't have any solution for this. I tried the method you told me about. However, not a single drop of the solution could pass through because the HA-PG was completely solidified and clogged in the junction. Do I need to use some kind of chemical to dissolve the protein in this case?
Hello Kota,
In this case that HA-PG hardened, I strongly recommend you to contact Dolomite customer service regarding this and provide them full details, clogging happens to other customers of these companies and they usually have specific solutions for this.
https://www.dolomite-microfluidics.com/contact/contact-us/
If they could not help you, please feel free to send me the catalog number of your device so I can take a look, I am not sure what is the material of your chip. There is always a way to solve these issues.
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