Radial Microchannel Research Articles

Microfluidic compartmentalization of rat vagal afferent neurons to model gut-brain axis

BackgroundVagal afferent neurons represent the key neurosensory branch of the gut-brain axis, which describes the bidirectional communication between the gastrointestinal system and the brain. These neurons are important for detecting and relaying sensory information from the periphery to the central nervous system to modulate feeding behavior, metabolism, and inflammation. Confounding variables complicate the process of isolating the role of the vagal afferents in mediating these physiological processes. Therefore, we developed a microfluidic model of the sensory branch of the gut-brain axis. We show that this microfluidic model successfully compartmentalizes the cell body and neurite terminals of the neurons, thereby simulates the anatomical layout of these neurons to more accurately study physiologically-relevant processes.MethodsWe implemented a primary rat vagal afferent neuron culture into a microfluidic platform consisting of two concentric chambers interconnected with radial microchannels. The microfluidic platform separated cell bodies from neurite terminals of vagal afferent neurons. We then introduced physiologically-relevant gastrointestinal effector molecules at the nerve terminals and assessed their retrograde transport along the neurite or capacity to elicit an electrophysiological response using live cell calcium imaging.ResultsThe angle of microchannel outlets dictated the probability of neurites growing into a chamber versus tracking along chamber walls. When the neurite terminals were exposed to fluorescently-labeled cholera toxin subunit B, the proteins were taken up and retrogradely transported along the neurites over the course of 24 h. Additionally, mechanical perturbation (e.g., rinsing) of the neurite terminals significantly increased intracellular calcium concentration in the distal soma. Finally, membrane-displayed receptor for capsaicin was expressed and trafficked along newly projected neurites, as revealed by confocal microscopy.ConclusionsIn this work, we developed a microfluidic device that can recapitulate the anatomical layout of vagal afferent neurons in vitro. We demonstrated two physiologically-relevant applications of the platforms: retrograde transport and electrophysiological response. We expect this tool to enable controlled studies on the role of vagal afferent neurons in the gut-brain axis.

Thermo-hydraulic performance evaluation of radial tree-branching microchannel heat sinks for electronic cooling applications

The fractal-like tree-branching microchannel heat sink (TB-MCHS) can be a potential solution for the cooling of electronic devices due to its ability to dissipate high heat flux and maintain uniform temperature distribution on the chip surface while requiring lower pumping power compared with the conventional TB-MCHS with constant channel depth. This work proposed a novel design of radial TB-MCHS with continuously varying, either increasing or decreasing, channel depth from the centre inlet to the radial outlet, resulting in different fluid volumes in channels compared to the conventional constant channel height TB-MCHS. A three-dimensional numerical model is developed and validated with in-house experimental results to study the thermo-hydrodynamic performance and entropy generation of the TB-MCHSs. The results reveal that the proposed designs of TB-MCHS with different fluid volumes negligibly enhance the heat transfer coefficient and significantly reduce the pressure drop and pumping power requirement compared to that of constant fluid volumes. The TB-MCHS with continuously increasing channel depth (TB-MCHS-DIV) exhibits the lowest pressure drop, thermal resistance, substrate temperature, and entropy generation among all the designs of TB-MCHS considered. However, the TB-MCHS-DIV shows the lowest convective heat transfer coefficient and higher coefficient of performance (COP) and heat removal rate than the TB-MCHS-ST. Further, it is found that the TB-MCHS-DIV can be performed better than TB-MCHS-CON and TB-MCHS-ST at constant pumping power.

Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Ethylene Glycol with SnFe2O3 Hybrid Nanofluid on Heat Transfer in Flat, Face Step, and Radial Corrugated Microchannels

Nanofluid technology is one of the latest technics aims to enhance the heat exchangers working systems. The nanofluid is used because it has better thermal performance properties than common fluids like water. Tin Oxide (SnO2) and Ferric Oxide (Fe2O3) has used due to their availability and low cost for manufacturing. Flat, face step and radial corrugated microchannels have been studied at the Reynolds number range (4000-7000 Re). In this study, a hybrid nanofluid combined Ferric Oxide and Tin Oxide SnFe2O3 at (0, 5, 15%) of Tin Oxide concentration. The volume concentration of the nanoparticles was from (1-5)% suspended in ethylene glycol as base fluid due to its high thermal performance compared with water. The performance evaluation criteria (PEC) are studied and the results were validated with experimental and numerical results from previous studies. Performance evaluation criteria (PEC) studied the heat transfer in all study steps and found that the 15Sn85Fe2O3 hybrid nanofluid in ethylene glycol at 5% volume concentration in radial corrugated microchannel increased 104% compared with base fluid ethylene glycol in the flat microchannel. The performance evaluation criteria value has increased by 82% from flat microchannel to radial microchannel at 5% of volume concentration of 15Sn85Fe2O3 hybrid nanofluid

Smoothing the wrinkle formation and improving dye rejection performance in porous graphene oxide membranes using high surface curvature hollow fiber substrates

Assembly of atomic-scale thin two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets into a membrane with macroscopic three-dimensional (3D) laminar structure is accompanied by the formation of wrinkles. The size and pattern of wrinkles, which depend on the substrate curvature and the thickness of the 3D laminar structure, adversely affect the separation performance of the membrane. Therefore, smoothing the formed wrinkles is essential to boost the separation performance of GO-based membranes. For the first time, we proposed a new approach to prepare porous hollow fiber (HF) yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrates with small-diameter (660–790 μm, outer diameter (OD)) by stretching the nascent HF using gravitational force. Also, using a delayed phase inversion, a plurality of radial micro-channels opening from the interior surface of HFs can be realized. The resultant HF substrates show promising permeation characteristics and good fracture strength owing to their open microstructure and the robustness of YSZ. Small-diameter HF substrates (OD = 660 μm) with higher surface curvature ensured the fabrication of porous GO (PGO) membranes with better dye separation performance. The rejection of methyl red (MR, MW = 269.3 g mol−1) dye molecule for small-diameter HF PGO membranes (OD 660 μm) was 10%–167% higher than that of membranes fabricated using large-diameters (OD 1250–2600 μm). This study shed light on the fabrication of high-performance thin film membranes by tailoring the geometric features of substrates.

Companion-Probe & Race platform for interrogating nuclear protein and migration of living cells

Probing nuclear protein expression while correlating cellular behavior is crucial for deciphering underlying causes of cellular disorders, such as tumor metastasis. Despite efforts to access nuclear proteins by trafficking the double barriers of cell membrane and nuclear membrane, they mostly fall short of the capacity for analyzing various proteins in different cells. Herein, we introduce a Companion-Probe & Race (CPR) platform that enables interrogating nuclear proteins in living cells, while guiding and tracking cellular behaviors (e.g., migration) in real time. The Companion-Probe consists of two polypeptide complexes that were structured with nuclear localization signal (NLS) for entering nucleus, recognition polypeptide for targeting different sites of nuclear proteins, and fragments of green fluorescent protein (GFP) that can recover a whole fluorescent GFP once the two polypeptide complexes combine with a same target protein. The two polypeptide complexes were expressed by two plasmids (named “probe plasmids”) that were uniformly and efficiently delivered into cells by nano-electroporation (NEP), a high-performance delivery method for cell focal-poration and accelerated intracellular delivery. To track cell migration, multiple radial microchannels were designed with micro-landmarks on the platform to serve as addressable runways for cells. The proof-of-concept of CPR platform was validated with clinical primary cells that indicated the positive-correlation between nuclear protein murine double minute 2 (MDM2) expression level and cell migration velocity. This platform shows great promises to interrogate nuclear proteins in live cells, and to decode their roles in determining cellular behaviors on a chip.

Mathematical modeling investigation on flow boiling and high efficiency heat dissipation of two rectangular radial microchannel heat exchangers

To solve the heat dissipation problem of high heat flux devices, flow boiling heat transfer in microchannels is widely used and investigated. Two types of rectangular radial microchannel heat exchangers, without and with grooves, were experimentally studied and reported by us. To further improve their heat transfer performances by optimizing their structural parameters, two mathematical models are developed, with heat transfer coefficient (HTC) used as validation parameter. As analyzed, for two rectangular radial microchannel heat exchangers, without and with grooves, the average deviations are 3.62% and 7.03%, respectively. The modeling results show that, compared with the heat exchanger without grooves, the one with grooves always has better heat transfer performance. For two microchannel heat exchangers, without and with grooves, the influence of adjusting structure parameters on the HTC is obvious, and the maximum changes of HTC reaches 32.56 kW/m2K and 70.33 kW/m2K, respectively. Under a heating load of 400 W and a volume flow rate of 8 L/h, the heat transfer performance of heat exchanger without grooves could not be improved. While under the same conditions, the predicted HTC of the heat exchanger with grooves is improved to 102.56 kW/m2K, which is 58.69% higher than the experimental data. The results of this study are expected to provide references for the structural design optimization of microchannel heat exchangers.

Hydrogen-air premixed combustion in a novel micro disc-burner with an annular step

A novel micro disc-burner with an annular step using the hydrogen/air premixed mixture is developed in this work, which can act as a heater or heat source with a high stability for the miniature power generators. The combustion and thermal performance of this combustor is studied by the means of numerical simulation. The results show that the excess enthalpy combustion appears at a small equivalence ratio. The thermal output power of the combustor increases with the increased Reynolds number. It is interesting to find that the upper and lower limits of thermal output power and its ratio in the total heat release amount change approximately linearly with the Reynolds number. It is found that the thermal output power and its ratio in the total heat release amount under any conditions are smaller than 102.8 W and 31.41%, respectively. The effects of the thermal conductivity and surface emissivity of solid wall on the combustion characteristics are studied. Both thermal output power and its ratio in the total heat release amount decrease with the increased thermal conductivity. Additionally, the thermal output power remarkably decreases with the decreased surface emissivity. The current work not only provides the guideline for applying this combustor but also helps us to gain insight into the heat transfer characteristic in the radial micro-channel.

Heat transfer augmentation in a radial curved microchannel

Rapid advancement toward miniaturization has emerged with confront for superior heat dissipation techniques. Of all the available cooling systems, microchannel-based cooling systems stand out to provide better cooling performance through superior heat removal abilities. In the present study, the cooling performance and hydraulic flow characteristics of a radial curved microchannel with three curvature ratios were numerically investigated and compared with a radial straight microchannel. Unlike the conventional straight microchannels, curved channels possess better fluid mixing as a result of the centrifugal force caused due to curvature. This phenomenon has a significant effect on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics. Work on radial curved microchannels has been scarce and there is a lot of potential to augment the heat transfer with lower pumping power particularly with a central inlet. A three-dimensional conjugate heat transfer analysis was carried out for three radial curved microchannels and a radial straight microchannel using the ANSYS Fluent commercial software with the Reynolds number range of 125–275. The results showed a Nusselt number increment of 36.38% for radial curved microchannels when compared to the radial straight microchannel. Further, the lowest average wall temperature was noted for the radial curved microchannel with a curvature ratio of 0.17 which was 15.63 °C lower when compared to that in a radial straight microchannel for the same Reynolds number. Contours of velocity and temperature are presented at various locations along the stream to aid the results. The overall performance of all three radial curved microchannels was found to be higher than that of the radial straight microchannel in the Reynolds number range considered, out of which the maximum performance factor of 1.245 was obtained for the radial curved microchannel with a curvature ratio of 0.17 as compared to the radial straight microchannel.

Experimental Investigations on Non-premixed Methane-air Flames in Radial Microchannels with a Controlled Temperature Profile

ABSTRACT Experimental investigations were made on the stabilization and dynamics of non-premixed methane-air flame in a series of radial microchannels with a diameter of 60 mm and widths of 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 mm with a controlled wall temperature profile. Various flame modes, termed periodically rotating flame, stable flame, broken and cellular flames, single broken flame, and periodically splitting flame were observed with high-speed imaging. Regime diagrams of all these stable and unstable flame modes were then drawn for the three channel gap widths. In addition, some critical flame characteristics, such as the mean radii of the stable flames, and the rotating frequencies of the periodically rotating flames were quantitatively assessed. Effects of the fuel/oxidizer inflow rates and the nominal equivalence ratios on these parameters were studied. Furthermore, numerical studies on the flow field were performed, revealing the inner mechanism of various flame modes to a certain extent. Disturbance of the fuel/oxidizer mixing layer for various flow conditions was considered to be greatly responsible for the formation of some flame patterns.

Laminar non-premixed flame patterns in compact micro disc-combustor with annular step and radial preheated channel

The study presents the laminar methane-air non-premixed flame patterns under the synergistic effect of heat and flow recirculation in a radial microchannel, as obtained through a numerical simulation. A regime diagram of the flame behaviors for various operating conditions was obtained. It was observed that the flame always remained stable until it was extinguished, which implies that the flame stability was strong. In addition, the flame patterns at small, moderate, and large Reynolds numbers (Re) were revealed. For a small Re, the flame could be well-anchored in a very upstream channel at a large global equivalence ratio (ϕ). At a moderate ϕ, the upstream part of the flame was anchored by a minor recirculation zone (RZ) near the inlet of the combustion chamber. At a small ϕ (i.e., 0.6), the flame became completely flat, and its upstream part was anchored by the major RZ behind the annular step. For a moderate Re, the flame roots were remarkably anchored by the minor and/or major RZs. For a large Re, for the first time. It was observed that the whole stable flame split into two parts in the radial channel at ϕ = 0.8 and 0.7, namely the upstream minor flame engulfed in the minor RZ and the downstream major flame anchored by the major RZ. However, when ϕ was further decreased to 0.6, the minor flame was extinguished and only the large major flame existed. The transformation mechanism of the aforementioned flame behaviors was also revealed in detail. Furthermore, this study has yielded abundant information on flame patterns in the current radial microchannel with the annular step and the radial preheated channel, which could help us gain further insights into the flame propagation characteristics in a radial channel.

Cooling Enhancement and Stress Reduction Optimization of Disk-Shaped Electronic Components Using Nanofluids

Mechanical strength and thermal properties may limit the usage of an electronic component in the high-tech industry. This paper investigated the influence of using CuO nanoparticles in a radial configuration microchannel of a disk from the mechanical and thermal points of view. In this regard, a disk under thermal and mechanical loading had been considered. The cooling setup consisted of a radial configuration microchannel with a constant fluid volume. Water was used as the base fluid and CuO particles were used as the coolant fluid. The results showed that the use of CuO nanoparticles would reduce the maximum disk temperature, the maximum thermal stress, and the maximum stress, as well as the maximum deformation on the body. The increasing number of channels would increase the maximum stress in the object as well. Another remarkable point was that increasing the nanoparticles did not necessarily lead to a more uniform heat distribution in the disk.

Multiaxial electrospun generation of hollow graphene aerogel spheres for broadband high-performance microwave absorption

Although graphene aerogels (GA) have been attracted great attention, the easy-operation and large-scale production of GA are still challenges. Further, most GA have a monolith-like appearance, limiting their application-specific needs. Herein, we highlight graphene aerogel spheres with controllable hollow structures (HGAS) that are delicately designed and manufactured via coaxial electrospinning coupled with freeze-drying and calcination. The HGAS exhibit a spherical configuration at the macroscale, while the construction elements of graphene on the microscale showing an interconnected radial microchannel structure. Further, ball-in-ball graphene aerogel spheres (BGAS) are obtained by reference to the triaxial electrospinning technology. The as-prepared spheres possess the controllable integrated conductive networks, leading to the effective dielectric loss and impedance matching, thus bringing on high-performance microwave absorption. The as-obtained HGAS shows a minimum reflection loss of -52.7 dB, and a broad effective absorption bandwidth (fE) of 7.0 GHz with thickness of 2.3 mm. Further, the fE reaches 9.3 GHz for BGAS with thickness of 3.4 mm. Aforementioned superior microwave absorption of HGAS and BGAS confirms combination of multiaxial electrospinning and freeze-drying on the multiscale is an effective strategy for scalable fabrication of advanced microwave absorbing functional graphene aerogel spheres.

Optimization of heat transfer effects in radial fin microchannel heat sink

ABSTRACT In the quest of saving energy, heat must be extracted from the electronic devices effectively, for which microchannel heat sinks are employed. The temperature variation in heat sinks exists due to flow mal-distribution. With increase in complexity of heat sink designs, the concerns for its reliability arises, as the large temperature variation across the substrate causes development of thermal stresses. Therefore, to tackle both the problems simultaneously the authors presents a study of heat sink with radial fins. The height of channel, number of channels on substrate, and flow rate are considered as the design parameters. The response of the design variables is obtained in terms of Nusselt number, which is put into Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array for obtaining the optimum combination of design parameters for maximum Nusselt number. The signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance were used to examine which parameter significantly affects Nusselt number. The results indicate that the flow rate is the most influential parameter that affects Nusselt number.

Experimental investigation on the heat transfer characteristics of novel rectangle radial microchannel heat exchangers in two-phase flow cooling system for data centers

As electronic component technology becomes increasingly miniaturized, how to keep them from overheating is challenging. Advanced microchannel two-phase flow cooling technology attracts more and more attentions due to its much better performance when compared with conventional forced air convection cooling technology. To fundamentally alleviate the Ledinegg instability of two-phase flow, three novel rectangle radial expansion multiple microchannel heat exchangers are proposed and manufactured, with two types of cold plates and covers. Experimental investigation on the flow boiling heat transfer performance of three heat exchangers was carried out. The rectangular radial design effectively suppresses the reverse two-phase flow, without dry-out phenomenon occurred. The heat exchanger, with cutting in its cold plate and without gap in its cover, was finally clarified having the best performance. Under the operation conditions of heating load of 400 W and flow rate of 8 L h−1, the maximum measured wall temperature, the calculated averaged heat transfer coefficient, and the pressure drop are 104 °C, 0.009 kPa, and 65.444 kW m−2 K, respectively. This type of heat exchanger has the best dynamic performance on pressure drop, and its cover could be further investigated by enhancing the bubble departure. Contributions of this work are expected to directly optimize the pumped two-phase flow cooling system for data centers.

Development and thermal performance of a vapor chamber with multi-artery reentrant microchannels for high-power LED

This study developed a vapor chamber (VC) with radial multi-artery reentrant microchannels for thermal management of high-power light emitting diodes (LEDs). It featured Ω-shaped reentrant microchannels inside porous wicks to provide separated flow passages for vapor and liquid flow. It was integrated with a high-power LED module for fast heat dissipation and efficient thermal management. Experiments were systematically conducted to evaluate thermal performance of the VC for a wide range of input power of LEDs, air flow rates and inclination angles of LED module. The VC was compared to a copper plate heat sink in the same operation conditions. Results show that compared to the copper plate, the VC presented a faster temperature rise, and was earlier to reach equilibrium state. The VC reduced the substrate surface temperature of LED module for 7–27%, and introduced a reduction in the thermal resistance for 19–48%, indicating that the VC enhanced cooling capacity remarkably and yield a notable favorable performance for the heat dissipations of LEDs. The thermal performance of the VC was significantly dependent on the input power of LEDs and air flow rates, whereas the inclination angle of LED module showed negligible effects on thermal performance.

Enhancing medial layer recellularization of tissue-engineered blood vessels using radial microchannels.

Aim: Cell repopulation of tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) from decellularized arterial scaffolds is limited by dense concentric tunica media layers which impede cells migrating radially between the layers. We aimed to develop and validate a new microneedle device to modify decellularized carotid arteries with radial microchannels to enhance medial layer repopulation. Material & methods: Modified decellularized porcine arteries were seeded with rat mesenchymal stem cells using either standard longitudinal injection, or a dual vacuum-perfusion bioreactor. Mechanical tests were used to assess the arterial integrity following modification. Results & conclusion: The method herein achieved radial recellularization of arteries in vitro without significant loss of mechanical integrity, Thus, we report a novel method for successful radial repopulation of decellularized carotid artery-based tissue-engineered vascular grafts.

Fabrication of a Novel Catalyst Reactor with Improved Strength and Catalytic Performance Used for Automotive Exhaust Treatment

Yttria-stabilized zirconia hollow fibers (YSZ-HFs) containing radial wall microchannels with one end opening on the inner surface were prepared, and robust reactor modules of YSZ-HFs for automotive emission were prepared by bundling fibers with cement glue. 100% open-cell ratio and the unique microstructure of the YSZ-HFs catalytic reactor facilitated deposition of LaMnO3 three-way catalysts. Compared with the commonly used cordierite (2MgO-2Al2O3-5SiO2) honeycombs (CHs), the YSZ-HFs improved the reducibility and sintering resistance of the attached catalyst film. Higher effective conversion of CO and NO was found in the YSZ-HFs samples in comparison to the CHs samples. Moreover, the YSZ-HFs samples achieving higher flexural strength (∼135 MPa) can better preserve the mechanical properties and the integrity of the catalyst film after 200 thermal shock cycles at 900 °C, due to the small thermal mismatch between the YSZ-HFs and the catalysts, as well as the intrinsic merit of zirconia.

Generation of graphene-based aerogel microspheres for broadband and tunable high-performance microwave absorption by electrospinning-freeze drying process

Despite recent progress in the synthesis and application of graphene-based aerogels, some challenges such as scalable and cost-effective production, and miniaturization still remain, which hinder the practical application of these materials. Here we report a large-scale electrospinning method to generate graphene-based aerogel microspheres (AMs), which show broadband, tunable and high-performance microwave absorption. Graphene/Fe3O4 AMs with a large number of openings with hierarchical connecting radial microchannels can be obtained via electrospinning-freeze drying followed by calcination. Importantly, for a given Fe3O4:graphene mass ratio, altering the shape of aerogel monoliths or powders into aerogel microspheres leads to unique electromagnetic wave properties. As expected, the reflection loss of graphene/Fe3O4 AMs-1:1 with only 5 wt.% absorber loading reaches −51.5 dB at 9.2 GHz with a thickness of 4.0 mm and a broad absorption bandwidth (RL < −10 dB) of 6.5 GHz. Furthermore, switching to coaxial electrospinning enables the fabrication of SiO2 coatings to construct graphene/Fe3O4@SiO2 core‒shell AMs. The coatings influence the electromagnetic wave absorption of graphene/Fe3O4 AMs significantly. In view of these advantages, we believe that this processing technique may be extended to fabricate a wide range of unique graphene-based architectures for functional design and applications.

Enhanced Flow Boiling Using Radial Open Microchannels With Manifold and Offset Strip Fins

The increasing demand for designing effective cooling solutions in high power density electronic components has resulted in exploring advanced thermal management strategies. Over the past decade, phase-change cooling has received widespread recognition due to its ability to dissipate large heat fluxes while maintaining low temperature differences. In this paper, a radial flow boiling configuration through a central inlet was studied. This configuration is particularly suited for chip cooling application. Two heat transfer surfaces with (a) radial microchannels, and (b) offset strip fins were fabricated and their flow boiling performance with distilled water was obtained. Furthermore, the effect of the liquid flow rate on the boiling performance and enhancement mechanisms was also investigated in this study. At a flow rate of 240 mL/min, a maximum heat flux of 369 W/cm2 at a wall superheat of 49 °C and a pressure drop of 59 kPa was achieved with the radial microchannels, while the offset strip fins achieved a maximum heat flux of 618 W/cm2 at a wall superheat of 20 °C. Increasing the flow rate to 320 mL/min resulted in a heat flux of 897 W/cm2 demonstrating the potential of using a radial configuration for enhancing the boiling performance. The increase in flow cross-sectional area was shown to be responsible for the reduced pressure drop when compared to straight microchannel configurations. The high-speed imaging incorporated in each test provided valuable insight and understanding into the flow patterns and underlying mechanism in these geometries. With the ease of implementation, highly stable flow, and further optimization possibilities with different microchannel and taper configurations, the radial geometry is expected to provide significant performance enhancement well beyond a critical heat flux (CHF) of 1 kW/cm2.

Multi-scale approaches for gas-to-liquids process intensification: CFD modeling, process synthesis, and global optimization

This paper presents a multi-scale framework for the intensification of small scale gas-to-liquids (GTL) processes. As the process intensification tool, a radial microchannel reactor is used to facilitate the catalytic steam reforming of methane. Due to the endothermicity of this reaction, a microchannel reactor serves as a promising alternative because of its enhanced heat transfer characteristics. However, the underlying mathematical model for the microchannel reforming process is complex. Since our aim is to elucidate the optimal process topology from a plethora of alternatives through a global optimization framework, we built a surrogate mathematical model to bridge this gap. Through a rigorous model identification, parameter estimation, and cross-validation analysis we have developed an accurate mathematical model that can predict the microchannel reactor output within 0.43%. We then implemented this mathematical model into a process superstructure that considers several novel and competing process alternatives for the production of liquid fuels from natural gas. Across different case studies ranging from 500 to 5000 barrels per day of total production, we have observed that the microchannel process can improve break-even oil prices (BEOP) by as much as $10/bbl. Since the small scale GTL process aims to utilize stranded natural gas with almost zero value, a parametric analysis is performed to evaluate the BEOP at different feedstock prices. We have observed that the microchannel reforming alternative is the superior process at all the scales investigated when a natural gas price of $1/TSCF is considered. The topological findings suggest that process intensification through microchannel steam reforming is a viable approach to monetize stranded natural gas.