Drag reduction of bacterial cellulose suspensions

Abstract

Drag reduction due to bacterial cellulose suspensions with small environmental loading was investigated. Experiments were carried out by measuring the pressure drop in pipe flow. It was found that bacterial cellulose suspensions give rise to drag reduction in the turbulent flow range. We observed a maximum drag reduction ratio of 11 and found that it increased with the concentration of the bacterial cellulose suspension. However, the drag reduction effect decreased in the presence of mechanical shear. Copyright © 2011 Satoshi Ogata et al.