This award will support cooperative research in chemical engineering between Dr. Liang-Shih Fan, Ohio State University, and Dr. J.F. Davidson, University of Cambridge, England. The objective of the project is to define the transport behavior of three-phase fluidization involving low density particles. The research will focus on non-rigid bioparticles immobilized with living microorganisms. Dr. Fan's current research program at Ohio State University is concerned primarily with the hydrodynamics and axial liquid mixing in three-phase fluidization, involving rigid particles of low densities such as polystyrene, acetate, acrylic and nylon particles. The proposed work will complement the active ongoing research program at the University of Cambridge, which emphasizes three-phase biofluidization. During his visit to Cambridge, Dr. Fan will investigate the hydrodynamics and axial liquid mixing involving bioparticles such as calcium alginate particles with and without entrapment of cells and activated carbon particles immobilized with cells. Effects of particle properties on three-phase fluidization will be generalized based on the results of the experiments. This research will contribute to the understanding of three-phase fluidized bed applications in biological processing.
