Patent ID: 7001576

Claim:
A device for the emulsification and separation of small amounts of immiscible liquid phases comprising a base plate having an inner surface and a cover plate having an inner surface, which plates can be connected together, with said inner surfaces facing inward, with microchannels cut in grooves on the inner surface of the base plate and/or cover plate, wherein two microchannels, which can be filled separately through fill apertures in the base plate and/or cover plate, cross one another a number of times, forming a mixing zone sufficient to form an emulsion, and wherein at a subsequent point the two microchannels run together in a common microchannel, which is a separation zone sufficient to spatially separate said immiscible liquid phases within said common microchannel, and wherein at a subsequent point said common microchannel is divided into two microchannels, one of which divided microchannels is spatially located at a first spatial location to receive essentially only one of said immiscible liquid phases and the other of which divided microchannels is spatially located at a second spatial location which is different than the first spatial location to receive essentially only the other one of said immiscible liquid phases, and which divided microchannels run to separate outlet apertures.