Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation 2010

Microbubbles have a wide variety of potential uses, including hydrogen fuel cells, water purification, oil and water separation or biofuel production. Uploaded 18-10-10 Gas-liquid transfer is involved in a vast array of chemical and biochemical processes, and the smaller the bubbles of gas can be made, the more efficient this transfer becomes. For over 70 years, the smallest size that bubbles could easily be made was around 2mm, no matter how small the holes used to make them. Professor Zimmerman's team have developed a highly efficient solution to this puzzle, using microporous diffusers and fluidic oscillators. The solution allows massively parallel production of microbubbles, which are useful in three general ways because of the huge surface area created: transferring materials to and from the gas; suspending particles or droplets; and separating particles or droplets by flotation. This efficient production of microbubbles dramatically reduces the use of energy in these processes. For instance, with 20 micron sized bubbles, O2 can be transferred 50-100 times faster than with conventional 2mm sized bubbles, for the same energy consumption. Professor Zimmerman's team will conduct experiments with high speed cameras and image analysis using a range of fluidic oscillators that vary size, flow rates and oscillation frequencies to develop engineering design tools that will characterize microbubble formation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices