ACOUSTIC STUDIES OF INTERFACIAL EFFECTS IN AIRLIFT REACTORS

Rational design of airlift reactors for the culture of plant and animal cells is impeded by a lack of understanding of the causes of loss of viability. Some recent speculations in the literature suggest that gas-liquid interfacial phenomena have played prominent roles in observed instances of loss of viability in both insect and animal cell cultures. The important interfacial events may include bubble formation and detachment at the sparger, bubble coalescence and breakage, and bubble disengagement at the free surface-entailing film thinning, film rupture, and film droplet ejection.

We have carried out an experimental investigation of interfacial phenomena using macrovideography and acoustic signals recorded at both the sparger and the free surface. Data have been collected for several liquid media including distilled water, distilled water with electrolyte (NaCl), and aqueous solutions of glycerol (μ = 3 to 9.5 cP). The studies were conducted in a 3-liter, acrylic plastic, split-column airlift reactor, and air was introduced through interchangeable sieve plates (with hole diameters of 1, 2, and 3 mm). Time-series data collected from the microphone were processed for mean and root-mean-square values, and Fourier transforms were computed to identify important signal energies. A sequence of experiments was also conducted that was designed to relate specific interfacial phenomena to the frequencies of the noises produced.