Mass transport in a microchannel bioreactor with a porous wall

Abstract

A two-dimensional flow model, incorporating mass transport, has been developed to simulate flow in a microchannel bioreactor with a porous wall. A two-domain method was implemented which was based on finite volume method. For the porous-fluid interface, a stress jump condition was used with continuity of normal stress; and the mass interfacial conditions were continuities of mass and mass flux. Two parameters are defined to characterize the mass transports in the fluid and porous regions. The porous Damkohler number is the ratio of consumption to diffusion of the substrates in the porous medium. The fluid Damkohler number is the ratio of substrate consumption in the porous medium to substrate convection in the fluid region. The concentration results are found to be well correlated by the use of a reaction-convection distance parameter which incorporates the effects of axial distance, substrate consumption and convection. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.