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Shafie SNA, Shen WY, Jaymon JJ, Nordin NAHM, Mohamednour AEE, Bilad MR, Kee LM, Matsuura T, Othman MHD, Jaafar J, Ismail AF. Controlling Air Bubble Formation Using Hydrophilic Microfiltration Diffuser for C. vulgaris Cultivation. MEMBRANES 2022; 12:membranes12040414. [PMID: 35448384 PMCID: PMC9027748 DOI: 10.3390/membranes12040414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Revised: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In this project, a commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane was coated with a thin layer of polyether block amide (PEBAX) via vacuum filtration to improve hydrophilicity and to study the bubble formation. Two parameters, namely PEBAX concentration (of 0–1.5 wt%) and air flow rate (of 0.1–50 mL/s), were varied and their effects on the bubble size formation were investigated. The results show that the PEBAX coating reduced the minimum membrane pore size from 0.46 μm without coating (hereafter called PEBAX0) to 0.25 μm for the membrane coated with 1.5wt% of PEBAX (hereafter called PEBAX1.5). The presence of polar functional groups (N-H and C=O) in PEBAX greatly improved the membrane hydrophilicity from 118° for PEBAX0 to 43.66° for PEBAX1.5. At an air flow rate of 43 mL/s, the equivalent bubble diameter size decreased from 2.71 ± 0.14 cm for PEBAX0 to 1.51 ± 0.02 cm for PEBAX1.5. At the same air flow rate, the frequency of bubble formation increased six times while the effective gas–liquid contact area increased from 47.96 cm2/s to 85.6 cm2/s. The improved growth of C. vulgaris from 0.6 g/L to 1.3 g/L for PEBAX1.5 also shows the potential of the PEBAX surface coating porous membrane as an air sparger.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siti Nur Alwani Shafie
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia; (S.N.A.S.); (W.Y.S.); (J.J.J.); (A.E.E.M.); (L.M.K.)
| | - Wong Yoong Shen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia; (S.N.A.S.); (W.Y.S.); (J.J.J.); (A.E.E.M.); (L.M.K.)
| | - Jc Jcy Jaymon
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia; (S.N.A.S.); (W.Y.S.); (J.J.J.); (A.E.E.M.); (L.M.K.)
| | - Nik Abdul Hadi Md Nordin
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia; (S.N.A.S.); (W.Y.S.); (J.J.J.); (A.E.E.M.); (L.M.K.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +60-137021225
| | - Abdelslam Elsir Elsiddig Mohamednour
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia; (S.N.A.S.); (W.Y.S.); (J.J.J.); (A.E.E.M.); (L.M.K.)
| | - Muhammad Roil Bilad
- Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei;
| | - Lam Man Kee
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia; (S.N.A.S.); (W.Y.S.); (J.J.J.); (A.E.E.M.); (L.M.K.)
| | - Takeshi Matsuura
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Ave. E, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada;
| | - Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia; (M.H.D.O.); (J.J.); (A.F.I.)
| | - Juhana Jaafar
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia; (M.H.D.O.); (J.J.); (A.F.I.)
| | - Ahmad Fauzi Ismail
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia; (M.H.D.O.); (J.J.); (A.F.I.)
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Wesley DJ, Smith RM, Zimmerman WB, Howse JR. Influence of Surface Wettability on Microbubble Formation. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2016; 32:1269-1278. [PMID: 26754879 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b03743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The production and utilization of microbubbles are rapidly becoming of major importance in a number of global applications, from biofuel production to medical imaging contrast agents. Many aspects of bubble formation have been studied, with diffuser characteristics (such as pore size, pore orientation) and gas flow rate all being shown to influence the bubble formation process. However, very little attention has been paid to the influence of surface wettability of the diffuser and the detailed role it plays at the triple interface of gas-liquid-diffuser. Here, we investigate how the wettability of the diffuser surface impacts upon the dynamics of the bubble formation process and examine the effect both at the orifice and upon the bubble cloud produced as a result of the engineered wetting variations. Experimental data shown here indicate the presence of a switching point at a contact angle of θ = 90°, where bubble size vastly changes. When a surface exhibits a contact angle below 90°, bubbles emitted from it are considerably smaller than those emitted from a surface with an angle in excess of 90°. This effect is observable over flow rates ranging from 2.5 to 60 mL min(-1) from a single pore, an array of controlled pores, and the industrially relevant and commercially available sintered metals and sintered ceramic diffusers. It is also observed for both thiol and silane modified surfaces, encompassing a range of contact angles from 10° to 110°. In addition, the importance of the diffuser plate's surface topography is discussed, with elevated roughness acting to reduce the effect of surface chemistry in some instances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Wesley
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield , Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, United Kingdom
| | - Rachel M Smith
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield , Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, United Kingdom
| | - William B Zimmerman
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield , Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, United Kingdom
| | - Jonathan R Howse
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield , Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, United Kingdom
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Kukizaki M, Baba Y. Effect of surfactant type on microbubble formation behavior using Shirasu porous glass (SPG) membranes. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2008. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2008.05.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Kukizaki M, Wada T. Effect of the membrane wettability on the size and size distribution of microbubbles formed from Shirasu-porous-glass (SPG) membranes. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2008. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2007.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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