New microscopic bubble technology could to revolutionise chemical engineering

A new University of Sheffield spin-out company has developed microscopic bubble technology which looks set to revolutionise chemical engineering.

Perlemax Ltd, which was launched by Fusion IP, the University´s IP commercialisation company that turns world-class research into business, has developed a novel fluidic oscillator which efficiently generates micro-sized bubbles in a liquid.

The fluidic oscillator acts in a similar way to a child blowing bubbles with soap bubble makers. Blow continuously and long, large bubbles are possible, but blow with short, sharp puffs and a series of small bubbles are created, of the size of the hole they emerge from.

This takes less energy and the smaller bubbles have intensified chemical processing properties, due to the much greater surface area per unit volume. When the Perlemax oscillator is connected to a suitable mesh and immersed in a liquid, it creates a super efficient, dense mist of micro bubbles that enable the rapid transfer of gas into or out of a liquid, without the need for any moving parts.

Perlemax was founded on the invention of Professor Will Zimmerman, Chair of Biochemical Dynamical Systems at the University´s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, in the Faculty of Engineering.

Since 1994, Professor Zimmerman has been the winner of five prestigious UK and US fellowships, and more recently received the prestigious 2010 Royal Society Innovation Award for leading a team which has adapted a unique bioreactor for use in the production of alternative renewable fuels, to replace fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel.