Oxygen Transfer Effects in a Two-Phase System of an Aqueous Phase and Liquid Perfluorochemical Subjected to Continuous Wave-Assisted Agitation in Disposable Bioreactor

Systems of two immiscible liquid phases—aqueous phase (i.e., distilled water (dH 2 O) or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)) and liquid perfluorochemical (i.e., perfluorodecalin (PFD))—were subjected to wave-assisted agitation, i.e., oscillatory rocked, in a disposable bag-like container in a ReadyToProcess WAVE TM 25 bioreactor, to recognize oxygen transfer effects and effectivity of the surface aeration. According to the DoE methodology, values of the volumetric liquid-side mass transfer ( k L a ) coefficient for dH 2 O, PBS, dH 2 O-PFD, and PBS-PFD systems were determined for the whole range of operating parameters of the WAVE 25 bioreactor. A significantly higher maximal value of k L a was found for waving dH 2 O than for dH 2 O-PFD (i.e., 0.00460 s −1 vs. 0.00331 s −1 , respectively) compared to more equal maximal values of k L a reached for PBS and PBS-PFD (0.00355 s −1 vs. 0.00341 s −1 , respectively). The interface development factor ( f ) depended on the interfacial area a , and the enhancement factor ( E PFD ), depending on k L a , was introduced to quantitatively identify the mass transfer effects in the systems of waving two immiscible liquids. The phase of PFD was identified as the reservoir of oxygen. Dimensional correlations were proposed for the prediction of the k L a coefficient, in addition to the f and E PFD factors. The presented correlations, and the set of k L a values, can be directly applied to predict oxygen transfer effects reached under continuous oscillatory rocked systems containing aqueous phase and liquid perfluorochemical.