Effect of centrifugal force on bubble breakage time under microgravity

It is easy to remove bubbles from a liquid phase using their buoyancy under the gravitational field on the ground. However, bubble removal from the li quid phase is difficult under microgravity. In this study, bubble breakage on an air-water interface by centrifugal force was experimentally investiga ted under microgravity for the design of a space station bioreactor. Under our experimental conditions, the mean bubble breakage time of the air-water system at 1G was 0.16 s, with a standard deviation of 0.023 s. The bubble breakage time at the air-water interface in a centrifugal force field under microgravity ranged from 0.27 to 1.27 s. Under our experimental conditions , bubble frequency had no effect on the bubble breakage time at 0.047G. The mean bubble breakage time under microgravity increased with decreasing cen trifugal acceleration. Although the bubble breakage time at the air-water i nterface under microgravity is longer than at 1G, the bubbles at the air-wa ter interface were often broken by centrifugal force.