Fluid bed porosity equation for an inverse fluidized bed bioreactor with particles growing biofilm

Fluid Bed Bioreactor performance is strongly affected by bed void fraction or bed porosity fluctuations. Particle size enlargement due to biofilm growth is an important factor that is involved in these variations and until now there are no mathematical equations that consider biofilm growth. In this work a mathematical equation is proposed to calculate bed void fraction in an inverse fluid bed bioreactor. (Author)