Efficient Control of Microbubble Properties by Alcohol Shear Flows in Ceramic Membrane Channels

Abstract Efficient control of microbubbles is achieved by alcohol shear flows in ceramic membrane channels. The dependence of hydrodynamic and mass transfer properties of microbubbles on liquid viscosity was investigated in a bubble column. The multichannel ceramic membrane worked as the gas sparger, and the shear flow on the membrane surface controlled the microbubble generation. Oxygen gas and glycerin solutions with different viscosities served as gas phase and liquid phase, respectively. The microbubbles were massively generated at different liquid viscosities. With increasing viscosity, the bubble size first decreased and then increased. The dual effect of viscosity on bubble size was related to bubble coalescence. However, an impact of viscosity on gas holdup was not observed for microbubbles.