Effect of lobe pumping on human albumin: development of a lobe pump simulator using smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Using SPH (smoothed particle hydrodynamics), the motion of a lobe pump under load was simulated in order to predict the level of shear stress experienced by a protein solution. By varying the gap size between the lobes and pump housing, variations in pump efficiency and shear stress were determined. The simulations indicated that pump shear was dependent on gap size, with shear stress levels (0-40 Pa) correlating with those estimated in previous albumin-pumping studies. As gap size increased, the number of fluid particles experiencing low shear (< 10 Pa) increased, whereas those experiencing high shear (> 20 Pa) showed a decreasing trend. The pump efficiency, however, decreased with gap size, requiring more lobe revolutions to pass a unit volume. Taken together, these observations indicate that lobe pumps operated with increased gaps between the rotors and the housing result in larger number of particles within the fluid experiencing shear stresses. Moreover, the simulations indicate that it is best to use larger lobe pumps operated at high efficiency to transfer protein-containing solutions.