This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.Microfluidic methods developed primarily for medical applications have much to offer energy
applications. This short paper will provide the motivation and outline my group’s recent work in two such
areas: (1) microfluidics and optics for bioenergy and (2) microfluidics for carbon management. Full details
will be provided in talk. Within the bioenergy theme, we are developing photobioreactor architectures that
leverage micro-optics and microfluidics to cater both light and fluids to maximize productivity of
microalgae. Within the carbon management theme we are developing a suite of methods to study porescale
transport and reactivity in carbon sequestration and enhanced oil recovery. Results indicate potential
for order of magnitude gains in photobioreactor technology and a 100-fold improvement over current
subsurface fluid transport analysis methods
