Mass transfer characterization of an airlift probe for oxygenating and mixing cell suspensions in an NMR spectrometer

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Abstract
The oxygen transfer characteristics of a 20‐mm O.D. airlift contactor fitted with an oxygen microelectrode were determined by steady‐state sulfite oxidation measurements. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient kLa was proportional to sparging power input per unit volume raised to a power which varied from 0.41 in water (coalescing bubbles) to 0.76 in NaCl solutions (noncoalescing bubbles). The highest observed kLa value was 0.012 s−1 which is sufficient to aerate Escherichia coli in an NMR spectrometer at moderate to high cell densities, depending on the physiological state of the cells.