Fluid Dynamics and Mass Transfer in a Perfusion Bioreactor with a Porous Wall

A numerical study is carried out on the fluid dynamics and mass transfer in a microchannel perfusion bioreactor. The bioreactor channel has a porous wall for the co-culture of two types of cells which are distributed randomly and uniformly. A group of dimensionless parameters is proposed, which can be applied to correlate the numerical data and characterize the mass transfer in the bioreactor. The normalized numerical data, for the concentration at the porous-fluid interface and concentration difference between the interface and the base, show satisfactory correlation when presented as a function of the effective distance parameter. Index Terms—Transport phenomena in porous media, numerical methods in fluid flow, mass transfer.