Mass transfer augmentation due to wall slip in haemodialysers

Abstract

The inadequacy of the current theories to accurately predict the haemodialyser performance is shown to be a result of the effective slip at the membrane surface. This slip phenomenon, manifested by the Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect is peculiar to (heterogeneous) blood flow. Literature data have been analyzed to substantiate the slip hypothesis proposed in this work. Both the theoretical analysis and the experimental observations indicate that slip enhances haemodialyser performance. Some design considerations have been provided, which will account for the beneficial effect of wall slip in practical haemodialyser operations.