Experimental Study of a 3D-Printed 3-Phase Miniaturized Fluidized Bed for Bioprocessing Screening

Experimental Study of a 3D-Printed
3-Phase Miniaturized Fluidized Bed for Bioprocessing Screening

Yi
Zhang¹, Yuen Ling Ng², Kheng-Lim Goh², Steven
Wang¹, Vladimir Zivkovic[1]^*

¹School of Engineering, Newcastle
University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

² Newcastle Research & Innovation
Institute Singapore (NewRIIS), 80 Jurong East Street 21, #05-04, Singapore
609607

Abstract:

Fluidized bed as one type of reactors has been
commonly used in chemical and process industry due to its excellent
multi-phases contact, minimum diffusional resistance, and good heat and mass
transfer [1].  Miniaturized fluidized
beds (MFBs) are attracting a lot of attention as a cost-effective and process
intensification (PI) tool for fast screening of solid processes and bioprocesses
in recent years, out-performing many conventional large-scale fluidic systems
[2, 3].

In
this research, the miniaturized fluidized beds were innovatively fabricated
using 3D printing technique. This novel micro fluidized bed reactor highlights
the application of rapid design and optimization utilizing 3D printing
technique. The performance of the flow of multiple microbubbles under different
parameters (i.e. air sparger inner diameter, air-inlet numbers, and liquid
& gas velocity) was studied. The effects of air sparger distance on
multiple bubble flow were also investigated. Furthermore, the 3D-printing
approach was used to manufacture cell-mimicking particles, based on density
characteristics, to study the dynamics of cell in micro-fluidized bed reactor,
providing a possibility for fast screening of cells during cell cultivation and
bioprocessing processes. Specifically, the 3D-printed polymer particles
(1.12g/cm3 in density) with diameters of 1 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm were respectively
introduced into the fluidized column to form a liquid-solid-gas fluidized
system, to mimic the fungal cell cultivation within the fluidized bed. The
different flow regime including dispersed bubble flow, coalesced bubble flow
and slug flow were mapped as function of operating conditions.  

Reference

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2.         Li, X., M. Liu, and Y. Li, Bed expansion and multi-bubble behavior of gas-liquid-solid
micro-fluidized beds in sub-millimeter capillary. Chemical Engineering
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3.         Wang, H., et al., A review of process intensification applied to solids handling. Chemical
Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification, 2017. 118: p. 78-107.