Understanding blood oxygenation in a microfluidic meander double side membrane contactor

Abstract

Lung disease is one of the most important causes of high morbidity in preterm infants. In this work, we study a simple and easy to fabricate microfluidic device that demonstrates a great potential for blood oxygenation. A meander type architecture with double side vertical membrane arrangement has been selected as reference model to investigate the oxygenation process. The design criteria for the fabricated devices has been to maximize the oxygen saturation level while ensuring the physiological blood flow in order to avoid thrombus formation and channel blockage during operation. A mathematical model for the oxygen transfer has been developed and validated by the experimental study. The obtained results demonstrate that blood was successfully oxygenated up to approximately 98% of O 2 saturation and that the oxygen transfer rate at 1 mL/min blood flow rate was approximately 92 mL/min·m 2 . Finally, a sensitivity analysis of the key parameters, i.e. size of the channel, oxygen concentration in the gas phase and oxygen permeation properties of the membrane, is carried out to discuss the performance limits and to settle the guidelines for future developments.

On the Improvement of Alveolar‐Like Microfluidic Devices for Efficient Blood Oxygenation

“…A detailed description of the computational fluid dynamics model can be found in our previous work. [ 31 ] The mesh‐size used in the simulations was chosen on the basis of computational costs and reproducibility of hydrodynamic results. On this regard, the 2D computational domain for the reference AD1 design was discretized by more than 160 000 triangular elements, with a mesh of an edge length in the range 3000–16 µm.…”

“…The PDMS was chosen due to its highly elastic properties, transparency, high gas permeability, biocompatibility, and easiness in releasing from moulds which characterizes a good material for replica moulding. [ 31 ] The fabrication process involved: (1) construction of liquid and gas chambers by replica moulding from rigid masters, (2) membrane fabrication, and (3) microdevice assembly and attachment (see Figures S1 and S2 in the Supporting Information). The detailed fabrication description can be found in.…”

“…[ 30 ] Our group has recently designed and tested a meander type architecture with double‐side vertical membrane arrangement where the oxygen and blood channels were fabricated in the same plane. [ 31 ] Such arrangement presented not only double side gas diffusion, but also a simplified manufacturing process characterized by simple one‐plane fabrication. However, our μAL based on this double‐side vertical membrane configuration was subject to a relatively high pressure drop, i.e., 16.9 mbar at 1 mL min −1 blood flow rate which may result in thrombosis formation.…”

Chromium(VI) Removal by Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)/Aliquat-336 Polymeric Inclusion Membranes in a Multiframe Flat Sheet Membrane Module

“…They are considered environmentally friendly and economic because of the simple procedure for their preparation and the very low amount of solvent and extractant used [18,[20][21][22][23][24]. In general, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and cellulose triacetate (CTA) were used as basic materials [25][26][27][28][29][30]. The removal of chromium(VI) from industrial effluents and contaminated waters is very important because of its high toxicity and impact on both human health and the environment.…”

“…The removal of chromium(VI) from industrial effluents and contaminated waters is very important because of its high toxicity and impact on both human health and the environment. Chromium (VI) extraction has been widely investigated using PIM, and the most used devices have been double compartment or microdevices [18,25,31,32]. All systems investigated by researchers have been double cell systems or microsystem channels.…”