Separation of red blood cells at high volume concentration under low centrifugal accelerations

The separation process of blood and RBC suspensions in a hematocrit range between 0.3 – 0.7 was investigated with a centrifuge allowed to run at low accelerations (100 xg – 1000 xg). The position of the interface between the supernatant of plasma and the RBC column was continuously recorded by a new optoelectronic measuring system. The separation process could be mathematically described by an exponential decrease of the cell column approaching a final packing. At a given centrifugal acceleration the time constant is influenced by hematocrit, aggregation, deformation and plasma viscosity. The final packing depends linearly on the starting hematocrit (0.3 – 0.7) and can be used as a measure of deformability.