title: Modeling particle transport by bubbles for performance guidelines in airlift fermentors.
abstract: A calculation method has been developed to model the statistical transport of biological particles in bubble-driven flows, with special reference to the biokinetics of environmental excursions experienced by individual cells, aggregated cells, or immobilization beads in airlift bioreactors. Interim developments on modeling the transport of such particles in concentric tube devices are reported. The calculation is driven by user-prescribed global parameters for the bioreactor geometry, bulk air flow rate, and particle parameters (size and slip speed). The algorithm calls on empirical data correlations for void fraction, bulk liquid flow rate, and bubble sizes and slip speeds, optimally selected from a large bibliographic database. The Monte Carlo algorithm concentrates on simulating particle transport in the bubbly riser flows.The packaged family of correlations and calculations represents, in effect, an expert system augmented by a transport simulation suited to characterizing the biokinetic response of cells cultured in airlift bioreactors.
authors.affiliation: Fluid and Surface Transport Team, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, England.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Snape
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Thomas