'Sticky fingers' to extract the oil - 'Sticky fingers' that allow mixing of fluids in confined environments could facilitate the extraction of oil. Have been developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with funding Italian Eni.
The new method, described in the journal Physical Review Letters, was developed by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT and is based on the possibility of combining different viscosity fluids to create real 'sticky fingers'. In looking for a low viscosity fluid is injected into a fluid ten times more dense so that they mix with each other: the less dense liquid begins to stretch in order to create finger-like structures, which in turn form other fingers and so on, until the two fluids are not perfectly mixed evenly. This is possible if you use two fluids have a viscosity that is very different, said the head of research, Ruben Juanes. When you want to mix the fluids have a viscosity very different, he added, "the less dense fluid tends to create disorder and this is a perfect demonstration of efficiency in the ability to create a mix."
In addition to the extraction of oil, the same technique could be used in microfluidics, ie the controlled manipulation of fluids in tiny channels on the size of a few millionths of a meter. Such technologies were introduced in the 80s and widely used in inkjet printers, today are especially useful in biological chips used for chemical analysis.
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