Cairo university

Faculty of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department

Introduction to Chemical Engineering

How chemical engineering

helps to save lives:
Biomedical engineering applications

December 2005
 Outline
1. Introduction
2. Basics
3. Natural and artificial kidney
4. The circulatory system, the
natural and artificial heart
1. introduction
 Biomedical Engineering
Subfields

Biomedical Engineering is divided into three main subfields:

•Biochemical Engineering

•Bioelectrical Engineering

•Biomechanical Engineering
Growth in Biomedical Engineering
– Artificial Organs
• The development of artificial organs is beginning
to solve the persistent problem of insufficient
donors
• Old development : artificial kidney machine
• Newest developments:
– Improved artificial heart design
– Artificial liver
• Companies are concentrating on making “assist
devices” – not a full replacement but
augmentation
 2. Basics
• Chemical engineers study mass transfer,
heat transfer and momentum transfer. All
applied to the study of physiological
systems
• Chemical engineering applications in
hospital equipment include:
- artificial kidney machines
- artificial heart lung machines
• Let us review few basic phenomena :
What is DIFFUSION?
imaginary
plane

start intermediate equilibrium

What is OSMOSIS?
semi-permeable
membrane (permeable
to H2O but not solutes)

h ∝ osmotic
pressure
H2O

H2O

Conc1 > Conc2 Conc1 = Conc2

H2O moves;
start equilibrium
solutes do not

h ∝ osmotic pressure (Osmoles/liter)

osmotic pressure ∝ concentration difference

What does OSMOSIS mean for cells? (e.g. RBCs)
isotonic
plasma = 300 mOsmoles/L saline = 300 mOsmoles/L

300 mOsmoles/L
300 mOsmoles/L ISOtonic
normal size (ISOosmotic)
normal size

hypotonic
saline = 150 mOsmoles/L distilled
water = 0 mOsmoles/L

HYPOtonic
150 mOsmoles/L
(Hypoosmotic)

swollen cells hemolysis

hypertonic
saline = 500 mOsmoles/L

500 HYPERtonic
mOsmoles/L (Hyperosmotic)
shrunken cells
(crenated)
 3. Natural and artificial kidney
• Natural kidney is a fascinating system for
chemical engineering students. We will
see how urine is “separated” from the
blood on a continuous basis and how
electrolytes concentration is controlled in
the plasma
• We will have a look to the chemical
engineering application in the design of
artificial kidney machines
How does a
URINARY TUBULE
(collect a filtrate of
work? water and solutes)

(reabsorb all the

“good things”)

(secrete some of
the “bad things”)

net effect = excretion of

the urine
What are the functions of the KIDNEY?
1. Regulate body salt and water balance
(as low as 80 mOsm/L) (as high as 1200 mOsm/L)
voluminous, dilute urine sparse, concentrated urine
2. Excrete nitrogenous wastes
getting rid of urea and uric acid
3. Regulate body pH (acid and base)
controlling acid and base elimination

How does the kidney accomplish these tasks?

Filtration
Reabsorption = urinary excretion
Secretion
Filtration: How much fluid is filtered each day?

180 liters/day

Reabsorption: How much fluid is reabsorbed each day?

179 liters/day

Excretion: How much fluid is excreted each day?

1 liter/day
The Artificial Kidney - Dialysis Machine
Allows urea and
waste products
leave; prevents loss
Semipermeable of rbc’s and plasma
Patient’s
blood proteins; provides
membrane glucose amino
acids & other
nutrients

Plasma-
like fluid
Kolf first dialysis machine
Kolf A.K machine
 4. The circulatory system
• Blood flow through arteries , capillaries
and veins : pulsatile flow, viscosity of
blood four times that of water, …
• The heart as a pump
• The coronary blood supply to the heart
• The artificial heart
 The Cardiovascular System
The Heart As a Pump

No ordinary pump …
• 100,000 km (60000 miles) of blood vessels
• During sleeping pumps 30 x of its weights, 5 L of blood / minute
• 14,000 liters (3,600 gallons) blood per day… after day after day…
• 10,000,000 liters (2,600,000 gallons) blood per year
• Multiply by 70 years (average life expectancy) !!!
• …and that is only if you sleep all day…!
 What is the Artificial Heart?
• A synthetic device used to replace the real
human heart
• A work of biomedical engineering art
• A device used to pump blood throughout
the body
 New Developments
• A reliable design for an
artificial heart to be implanted
into a human being
• Testing which has given
improved information through
clinical trials
• Growing trends: making the
artificial heart a permanent
replacement instead of a
temporary solution, making the
heart cheaper and easier to
maintain, easier to
manufacture
 Why is a reliable design
necessary ?
• To make the heart able to last for a long
period of time
• To make the heart reliable in saving lives
• To withstand the wear and tear it will
experience while doing its job
• To be a replacement for a heart that can
not function properly anymore
How is The Artificial Heart a part
of Biomedical Engineering
• It takes a machine (I.E. the heart) and integrates
its functions to sustain life as its real counterpart
does
• A makes Biomedical Engineers deal with the
unpredictability of a machine within the human
body
• To make it compatible with many people
• To improve its design so that people can live
their normal lives, while using an artificial heart
Testing which has improved
clinical studies
• Experimental transplant
into living human beings
• Experimental transplant
into other animals
• Constant observation
about reactions from
patients volunteering for
experimentation
Improving the Artificial Heart
• Making a smaller,
lighter, and more
effective battery
• Longer lasting
sensors
• Making contributions
to mobility, security,
and safety to better
the quality of life
4. The heart lung machine

The heart-lung machine is an apparatus which permits the

heart to be operated on safely by maintaining the circulation
of oxygenated blood throughout the cardiovascular system.
This machine is made up of an oxygenator and a pump.
The oxygenator repeatedly draws off blood from the veins,
reoxygenates it, and pumps it into the arterial system.
This permits the surgeon to operate on a bloodless,
unbeating heart. This machine permits many types of heart
surgery to be performed that were previously impossible or
extremely dangerous. Some of the procedures that are
dependent upon the heart-lung machine are heart transplants,
coronary by-passes, removal and replacement of damaged
valves, and repair of other structural defects
Man machine interface with heart lung
machine components