Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction of Bioprocess
Engineering
5.0 Bioreactor selection and optimization
5.1 Identification of various bioreactor
5.2 Sterilization in bioreactor and bioprocess unit
operations
References:
Bioprocess Engineering. Shuler. (9.1, 9.2,
9.3, 9.5, 15.4.1,10.4)
Bioprocess Engineering Principles.
Pauline M. Doran. (P248.3 B56 1995)
Operation modes of bioreactors.
(TP.248.25.B55 O63 1992)
Bioreactor Design and product yield
(TP248.25 B55 B56 1992).
What is bioreactor?
The bioreactor in which biological/biochemical
reaction takes place occupies a central position
in the chemical process.
Synonymous for bioreactor: biochemical reactor,
biological reactor, fermenter, microbial reactor.
The reactions happens inside the vessel
because of the presence of either microbial
fermentation or enzyme (cell-free) reactions or
both.The cells or enzyme can be in suspension
or immobilized form.
Bioreactors can be operated as aerobic,
anaerobic, or solid state.
Bioreactor Configurations
Batch Stirred Tank
only 70-80% of the volume of stirred
reactors is filled with liquid; this allows
adequate headspace for
disen-gagement (breaking off) of
droplets from the exhaust gas and to
accommodate any foam which may
develop. If foaming is a problem, a
supplementary impeller called a foam
breaker maybe installed as shown
above. Alternatively, antifoam agents
are added to the broth; because
reduces the rate of oxygen transfer.
Normally mechanical foam dispersal is
generally preferred.
Batch bioreactor
Exhaust air
(Air out)
Air in
Bubble column
- no mechanical agitation.
-aeration and mixing are achieved by gas
sparging; this requires less energy than
mechanical stirring.
-height-to-diameter ratio is usually high to
maximize the aeration mixing
-Advantages of bubble columns include low
capital cost, lack of moving parts, and
satisfactory heat- and mass-transfer
perfor-mance. As in stirred vessels,
foaming can be a problem requiring
mechanical dispersal or addition of
antifoam to the medium. (Your imagination
is needed, bubble and foam is different!)
Bubble column
The oxygen transfer from the air bubble
and the mixing inside the bubble-column
depend entirely on the behaviour of the
bubbles released from the sparger.
Homogeneous flow occurs only at low
gas flow rates and when bubbles
leaving the sparger are evenly
distributed across the column crosssection. In homogeneous flow, all
bubbles rise with the same upward
velocity and there is no backmixing of the
gas phase.
Liquid mixing in this flow regime is also
limited, arising solely from entrainment in
the wakes of the bubbles. Under normal
operating conditions at higher gas
velocities, large chaotic circulatory flow
is develop and heterogeneous flow
occurs as illustrated in figure on the left.
Airlift bioreactor
Packed-bed
bioreactor
Fluidized bed
bioreactor
Trickle-bed reactor is
another variation of
the packed bed.
Liquid is sprayed onto
the top of packing and
trickles down through
the bed in small
rivulets.
Air may be introduced
at the base. Tricklebed -bioreactors are
used widely for
aerobic wastewater
treatment.
Trinkle-bed
bioreactor
Sterilization in bioreactor
Most bioreactors (especially fermentation process and
production of pharmaceutical products) outside of the
food and beverage industry are carried out using aseptic
conditions.
Most industrial bioreactors are designed for in situ steam
sterilisation under pressure. The vessel should have a
minimum number of internal structures, ports, nozzles,
connections and other attachments to ensure that steam
reaches all parts of the equipment. For effective
sterilisation, all air in the vessel and pipe connections
must be displaced by steam.
Think: In industry, where does the steam supply come
from?
Heat sterilization
Chemical sterilization (refer to handouts)
Sterilization using radiation
-Radiation sterilization is a good alternative for
sterilizing disposable medical, laboratory and
pharmaceutical products. The radiation that are
commonly are ultraviolet 200-280 nm (UV), -radiation
and -radiation.
In some industries such as the pharmaceutical, high
quality of water (such as RO, milli-Q, water-forinjection (WFI)) is required. Normally, a series of
filtration and ion-exchange purification steps are
involved. High quality water are normally keep in
water tanks before utilize, and these tanks usually are
equipped with UV radiation to avoid the growth of
microorganism.