A Cost-effective and Reliable Method to Predict Mechanical Stress in Single-use and Standard Pumps.
Pumps are mainly used when transferring sterile culture broths in biopharmaceutical and biotechnological production processes. However, during the pumping process shear forces occur which can lead to qualitative and/or quantitative product loss. To calculate the mechanical stress with limited experimental expense, an oil-water emulsion system was used, whose suitability was demonstrated for drop size detections in bioreactors(1). As drop breakup of the oil-water emulsion system is a function of mechanical stress, drop sizes need to be counted over the experimental time of shear stress investigations. In previous studies, the inline endoscopy has been shown to be an accurate and reliable measurement technique for drop size detections in liquid/liquid dispersions. The aim of this protocol is to show the suitability of the inline endoscopy technique for drop size measurements in pumping processes. In order to express the drop size, the Sauter mean diameter d32 was used as the representative diameter of drops in the oil-water emulsion. The results showed low variation in the Sauter mean diameters, which were quantified by standard deviations of below 15%, indicating the reliability of the measurement technique.
Institute of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Facility Management, Zurich University of Applied Sciences; ina.dittler@zhaw.ch.
Ina
I
Dittler
Levitronix Ltd.
Wolfgang
W
Dornfeld
Levitronix Ltd.
Reto
R
Schöb
SOPAT Ltd.
Jared
J
Cocke
SOPAT Ltd.
Jürgen
J
Rojahn
Institute of Chemical and Process Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin.
Matthias
M
Kraume
Institute of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Facility Management, Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
Dieter
D
Eibl
D002498:Centrifugation / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004655:Emulsions; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D033081:Shear Strength
D004655:Emulsions