Platelet concentrates preparation using a rotating membrane with Taylor vortices and axial flow

Abstract

Taylor-Couette devices with a rotating filtration membrane are utilized to separate cellular components and to prepare platelet (thrombocytes, PLT) concentrate from whole blood. Due to the complicated nature of the working fluids (e.g. blood), systematic analysis is conducted to enhance the separation efficiency. Flow visualization and cell extraction techniques are applied to understand the cell distributions and classification in different flow regimes in the devices. Blood cells are found to be classified by Taylor vortices: erythrocytes (red blood cells, RBCs) and leukocytes (white blood cells, WBCs) moved toward the periphery of the vortices, while platelet remained close to the center of the vortices due to different sizes for these blood cells. The blood filtration efficiencies are evaluated using two devices at different radius ratios with a series of Reynolds number and flow rates. Operated at similar Reynolds numbers, the device can have higher filtration throughput by making a smaller inner cylinder, for comparable PLT recovery rates. An approximately 90 % recovery rate for PLT was obtained within 40 % volumetric ratio, while the ones for RBC and WBC were 75 % and 85 % respectively.