Numerical investigation into continuous separation of particles and cells in a two-component fluid flow using dielectrophoresis

Separation of microparticles and cells from a heterogeneous mixture is critical in the fields of medicine, engineering, biology, and biotechnology. In this paper, a novel design for continuous separation of three particles/cells in a two-component fluid flow by dielectrophoresis, as the most efficient separation method, is discussed. A new solver is developed in OpenFOAM to simulate the separation of three polystyrene particles, which are only slightly different in size (2 μm, 3 μm, and 3.5 μm), in a circular channel containing a two-component fluid flow. Simulation results showed that for mean velocity U0 = 200 μm/s, electric potentials >25 V are required to separate particles efficiently. Then, separation of three biological cells including red blood cells, white blood cells, and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells is investigated. To achieve simultaneously two goals of separating the cells and preventing the two fluids to be mixed, it was found that the effective electric potential should be within the range of 9 V to 12 V.