J our nal of J SEM, Vol .

14, Speci al I s s ue ( 2014) s 52- s 56

Copyr i ght Ⓒ 2014 J SEM

Development and Optimization of a Micr obubble Gener ator with a Hollow Cylindr ical Ultr asonic Hor n

Tatsuya NUMAKURA1, Kazuki KASHIWAGURA1 and Toshinori MAKUTA2

1
Faculty of Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa 992-8510, Japan
2
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa 992-8510, Japan

(Received 11 January 2014; received in revised form 21 March 2014; accepted 19 April 2014)

Abstr act bubbled water, as well as the bubble diameter distribution.

The microbubble generator with a hollow ultrasonic horn is
a recent development that can easily generate large
quantities of microbubbles with a diameter of less than 100
�m. However, it still presents some drawbacks such as not
In addition, Makuta et al. also reported that a HUSH-based
microbubble generator can be applied to a sonochemical
reactor [7], which relies on the high temperatures and
pressures generated in the ultrasonically oscillating
microbubbles [8]. We also evaluated the suitability of a

r
being able to produce a sufficiently large gas flow rate for
industrial applications, whereas the ultrasonic oscillation HUSH-based generator with multiple orifices for
consumes large amounts of power. In this study, we sonochemical applications by studying the degree of
developed a microbubble generator with an degradation of indigo carmine. Our results revealed that a
interchangeable orifice, and we evaluated the effect of the
orifice shape on optimizing the microbubble generation
through the time evolution of dissolved oxygen in
oxygen-bubbled water, as well as the distribution of the
bubble diameters. We also evaluated whether the generator
has the sonochemical qualities required for practical
applications by investigating the degree of degradation of la HUSH-based generator with multiple orifices that were
sufficiently apart to prevent the generated bubbles from
coalescing was well suited for microbubble generation and
sonochemical reactions.

te
indigo carmine. Our results revealed that a multi-orifice
horn with orifices that were sufficiently apart to prevent the
coalescence of the generated bubbles was well suited for
microbubble generation and sonochemical reactions.
Key wor ds
Microbubble, Ultrasonic Horn, Sonochemistry, Dissolved
Es
2. Exper iment
2.1 Microbubble gener ator
A microbubble generator consists of an ultrasonic
generator (Model 6271, KAIJO Co., Ltd., Japan), an
ultrasonic transducer (Transducer 6281A, KAIJO Co., Ltd.,
Japan), a gas supply source, and the HUSH, as shown in
Fig. 1. The generator can transmit a sine wave signal of
19.5 ± 0.5 kHz to the transducer. The oscillation amplitude
at the end of the HUSH increases linearly with the

Oxygen Concentration, Optimization electrical power being input to the transducer [6], which is
measured using a wattmeter (Power Hitester 3332, HIOKI
1. Intr oduction E. E. Co., Japan).
Microbubbles with diameters of less than 100 �m are Ultrasonic
currently attracting considerable attention and are being Power Transducer
Hitester
widely used in various fields owing to their properties such
as large surface area per unit volume, low rising velocity,
and self-pressurization caused by surface tension.
Conventionally, microbubbles are generated by releasing
gas through a small orifice [1] or two-phase flow nozzle Horn
[2-4], or by the depressurization of supersaturated water [5].
However, the technique whereby gas is released through
small holes such as needles or through porous media is not Flow
suitable for generating microbubbles of less than 100 �m Ultrasonic
Meter
Gas
or for producing large quantities of microbubbles. Other Generator Cylinder
microbubble generation methods also offer little control
over the microbubble size. Makuta et al. developed a new Test Section
microbubble generator using a hollow cylindrical
ultrasonic horn (HUSH), and they reported that it could Fig. 1 Configuration of the microbubble generator
easily generate microbubbles with diameters of less than
100 �m [6]. However, this HUSH-based generation cannot
yet generate a gas flow rate that is suitable for industrial
use, thus the available gas flow rate must be increased to
make the technique commercially viable. In this study, we
developed a HUSH-based microbubble generator with
orifices that can be changed, and we evaluated the effect of
the orifice shape on microbubble generation based on the
time evolution of the dissolved oxygen concentration in Fig. 2 The internal and external shape of the HUSH
  

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 T. NUMAKURA, K. KASHI WAGURA and T. MAKUTA

Japan) and then the indigo carmine concentration was
calculated by the application of a standard curve.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Effect of or ifice type on HUSH ability to gener ate
Consequently, these results point to the fact that the use
of multiple orifices is sufficient to suppress the coalescence
of the generated bubbles, and is thus better suited to
microbubble generation.

Dissolved Oxygen Concentration [ppm]

microbubbles 30
Figure 5 shows the time evolution of DO for the �6,
��� �-dc-c4.1, ��� �-dc-c5.3, and ��� �-dc-c8.1 outgassing 25
orifices oscillating with 31 �m. The rapid increase in DO
shown in Fig. 5 points to an increase in the quantity of 20
generated microbubbles. These are carried down by the
flow in the test section, and exhibit excellent solubility due 15
to their large surface area per unit volume. Figure 6 shows
microbubble generation under in same conditions as in Fig. 10 (a) �
6

r
5, as captured by a high-speed camera (FASTCAM SA1.1, (b) �3.5-dc-c4.1
PHOTRON Co., Ltd., Japan) with a microscope (M Plan 5 (c) �3.5-dc-c5.3
Apo 2x, Mitutoyo Co., Ltd., Japan). (d) �3.5-dc-c8.1

la
Figure 5 shows that, when using a HUSH with triple
3.5-mm orifices, DO increased more quickly than with a
HUSH with a single 6-mm orifice, despite the areas of the
orifice openings being almost identical. The gas-liquid
interface oscillates most intensely around the line where
the water, gas, and HUSH are in contact. As such, any
increase in the length of the contact line enhances
Time [s]
0
0

Fig. 5 Time evolution of dissolved oxygen concentration

with oxygen microbubbles generated by HUSH with �6,
����-dc-c4.1, ���
�-dc-c5.3, and�����-dc-c8.1 orifices
400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400
te
microbubble generation. Therefore, a tip with three 3.5-mm
orifices can generate more microbubbles than a End of
single-orifice tip because the circumferential edge length of HUSH
the 3.5-mm orifices is 1.8 times greater than that of a
single-orifice tip.
Figure 5 also shows that the rate of increase of DO
3 mm 3 mm
when using a HUSH with triple 3.5-mm orifices rises
together with any increase in dc-c. As shown in Fig. 6, (a) �6 (b) �
���-dc-c4.1
Es

relatively large bubbles were generated by the coalescence

of the generated bubbles when dc-c was 4.1 mm and 5.3 mm,
whereas the microbubbles were generated in a stable
manner when dc-c was 8.1 mm. Although the coalescence of
the generated bubbles was an unsteady and intermittent
phenomenon, the frequency of the bubble coalescence 3 mm 3 mm
clearly increased as dc-c fell. Therefore, DO rose fastest
when using a HUSH with triple 3.5-mm orifices for which (c) ���
�-dc-c5.3 (d) �
���-dc-c8.1
dc-c was 8.1 mm, because many microbubbles were Fig. 6 Photographs showing microbubble generation
generated without any coalescence. The large bubbles float near the oscillating HUSH end with �6, ���
�-dc-c4.1,
faster and have a lower solubility than the microbubbles. ����-dc-c5.3, and�
����-dc-c8.1 orifices
We measured the diameter distribution, average
diameter, and volume density of the generated bubbles at 12
the bottom of the test section by using a laser size analyzer (a) �
6
(Mastersizer LMS2000e, SEISHIN ENTERPRISE Co., 10 (b) �3.5-dc-c4.1
Ltd., Japan) for different sizes of orifices, namely, �6, (c) �
3.5-dc-c5.3
��� �-dc-c4.1, ��� ���
�-dc-c5.3, and� �-dc-c8.1 at a gas flow rate (d) �
Frequency [%]

8 3.5-dc-c8.1
of 50 mL/min. The diameter distributions were as shown in
Fig. 7 and the average diameter, given in Table 1, was 6
almost the same in each case. However, the volume density
when using the tips with the three 3.5-mm orifices 4
increased with dc-c. These results point to the fact that the
generated microbubbles are more likely to coalesce and 2
float up when using the � �-dc-c4.1 and �
�� ���-dc-c5.3
orifices than in the case with the ����-dc-c8.1 orifices. Thus, 0
the shape of the horn end plays a greater role in the 10 100
coalescence of the generated bubbles, rather than the size Diameter [�m]
of the generated bubbles.
Fig. 7 Bubble diameter distribution for �6, ���
�-dc-c4.1,
����-dc-c5.3, and�
���
�-dc-c8.1 orifices
  

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[6] Makuta, T., Suzuki, R. and Nakao, T.: Generation of
Microbubbles from Hollow Cylindrical Ultrasonic Horn,
Ultrasonics, 53-1 (2013), 196-202.
[7] Makuta, T., Aizawa, Y. and Suzuki, R.: Sonochemical
Reaction with Microbubbles Generated by Hollow
Ultrasonic Horn, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 20-4
(2013), 997-1001.
[8] Suslick, K. S.: Sonochemistry, Science, 247-4949
(1990), 1439-1445.
[9] Walmsley, A. D., Laird, W. R. E. and Williams, A. R.:
Gas Bubble Fragmentation in an Ultrasonic Field,
Ultrasonics, 23-4 (1985), 170-172.
r
la
te
Es
T. NUMAKURA, K. KASHI WAGURA and T. MAKUTA
[10] Aizawa, Y., Numakura, T. and Makuta, T.: Influence of
the Bubble-Generating State on the Degradation of
Indigo Carmine by Ultrasonically Generated
Microbubbles, J. JSEM, 13 Special Issue (2013),
s51-s55.
[11] Vautier, M., Guillard, C. and Herrmann, J. M.:
Photocatalytic Degradation of Dyes in Water: Case
Study of Indigo and of Indigo Carmine, J. Cat., 201-1
(2001), 46-59.
[12] Kamath, V., Prosperetti, A. and Egolfopoulos, F. N.: A
Theoretical Study of Sonoluminescence, J. Acoust.
Soc. Am., 94-1 (1993), 248-260.
  

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