3.2 Influence of Well Fill Volume on kLa
To investigate the influence of the fill volume on kLa,
the kLa was measured at three well volumes (150, 200,
300 µL). As seen in Figure 2C, at a fill volume of 150µL,
kLa values ranged from 12.37 h-1(Unmixed), 14.64 h -1 (3500 rpm) 34.2 h-1 (6500 rpm) to 88.2 h -1 (9000
rpm). At a fill volume of 200 µL, kLa values ranged from
9.60 h-1 (Unmixed), 8.88 h -1 (3500
rpm), 33.6 h -1 (6500 rpm) to 89.28 h-1 (9000 rpm). At a fill volume of 300 µL,
kLa values ranged from 3.72 h -1(Unmixed), 9.12 h-1 (3500 rpm), 19.44 h-1 (6500 rpm) to 37.2 h -1 (9000
rpm). As fill volume increased, there was a decrease in observed
kLa at a given rotational speed, a trend consistent with
comparable sized microreactors [5,20,21]. The observed trend is
expected, due to kLa being volume specific. Further, as
discussed there is a critical rotational speed, beyond which there is an
exponential increase in kLa. As demonstrated in Figure
2C, this critical value is dependent on fill volume, whereby the higher
the well fill volume, the higher rotational speed required to reach the
exponential increase in kLa.