Mechanism of Particle Incorporation Into Microbial Cellulose

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Mechanism of Particle Incorporation Into Microbial Cellulose Bequette BES-0411693In the proposed research, a rotating disk bioreactor will be used to produce cohesive cellulose films rapidly because of the high surface area, high volumetric efficiency, low power consumption, and easy control at the optimum sugar concentration and pH. The novel feature is that solids added to the medium enter the gel and are held at selected locations. Different solid materials such as silica gel, glass spheres, metallic powders, carbon, and common plant cellulose can be incorporated into the gel in which stripes or bands of solids can be formed. These new composites have potential applications for medicine, bioprocessing, and manufacture of novel forms of paper. There are a number of challenging fundamental problems in reactor design and control. Incorporation of solid particles into the gelatinous matrix of bacterial cellulose involves complicated fluid/particle hydrodynamics. The proposed research will measure rates of incorporation of solid particles as functions of angular velocity and concentration of particles in the medium by determining amounts in locations of the gel by examination with a microscope. Behavior of mixtures of different sizes and types of particles will be studied with consideration of hydrophobicity and zeta potential.