Engineering revolution may be bubbling under at university

A NEW University of Sheffield spin-out has developed microscopic bubble technology which its scientists believe could revolutionise chemical engineering.

Perlemax Ltd has developed a "fluidic oscillator" to efficiently generate micro-sized bubbles in a liquid. Its scientists believe the process could significantly reduce the energy demands of chemical processes such as those used in water purification, waste water treatment, biodiesel manufacturing and carbon sequestration.

Perlemax was launched with the backing of Sheffield technology incubator Fusion IP, which turns university research into business and is headed by chief executive David Baynes.

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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.

It already has a number of pilot studies underway with companies, and Perlemax believes its technology could be retrofitted to existing equipment as well as incorporated in new machinery.

"The potential for large energy savings with our microbubble generation approach is huge, particularly in commodity chemicals production for gas dissolution and dissolved gas extraction, where energy savings could enhance profitability," said Prof Zimmerman.

"There are many routes to becoming green, and reducing energy consumption with the same or better performance must be the most painless."

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Perlemax's fluidic oscillator acts in a similar way to blowing bubbles with a soap bubble maker. While long, continuous breaths create large bubbles, short, sharp breaths create smaller bubbles. The company said the latter process uses much less energy and the bubbles have intensified chemical properties due to their greater surface area.

Perlemax's technology is connected to a mesh and immersed in a liquid to create a dense mist of microscopic bubbles to transfer gas into or out of liquid.

The company said these tiny bubbles are highly prized in chemical engineering as they significantly increase the rate of gas transfer.

"This is another example of the world-leading technology being generated at the University of Sheffield," said Mr Baynes. "Prof Zimmerman's fluidic oscillator has huge potential to make dramatic energy savings in a number of key chemical process industries and we are excited at the potential of this new company."

Fusion will start with a 60 per cent holding in Perlemax, and expects this to reduce in time to 30 to 40 per cent.