Industrial fermentor

An industrial fermentor of capacity up to several hundred kiloliters equipped with aeration and stirring devices, as well as other automatic control systems, is used. The cultures must be sterilized and aseptic air must be used owing to the high sensitivity to bacterial contamination of L-glutamic acid fermentation. 

Most industrial fermentors incorporate heat-transfer surfaces, which include ... 

Industrial fermentors, as well as pipings, pipe fittings, and valves, and all parts that come into contact with the culture media and sterilized air are usually constructed from stainless steel. All ofthe inside surfaces should be smooth and easily polished in order to help maintain aseptic conditions. All fermentors (other than the glass type) must incorporate glass windows for visual observation. Naturally, all fermentors should have a variety of fluid inlets and outlets, as well as ports for sampling and instrument insertion. Live steam is often used to sterilize the inside surfaces of the fermentor, pipings, fittings, and valves. 

The values of k a for CO, desorption in a stirred-tank fermentor, calculated from the experimental data on physically dissolved CO, concentration (obtained by the above-mentioned method) and the CO2 partial pressure in the gas phase, agreed well with the k a values estimated from the k a for O, absorption in the same fermentor, but corrected for any differences in the liquid-phase diffusivities [11]. Perfect mixing in the liquid phase can be assumed when calculating the mean driving potential. In the case of large industrial fermentors, it can practically be assumed that the CO, partial pressure in the exit gas is in equilibrium with the concentration of CO, that is physically dissolved in the broth. The assumption of either a plug flow or perfect mixing in the gas phase does not have any major effect... 

The term fermentation is used to describe the biological transformation of chemicals. In its most generic application, a fermentor may be batch, continuous-stirred tank (chemostat), or continuous plug flow (immobilized cell). Most industrial fermentors are batch. Several configurations exist for these batch reactors to facilitate aeration. These include sparged tanks, horizontal fermentors, and biological towers. 

Most industrial fermentors incorporate heat-transfer surfaces, which include (i) an external jacket or external coil (ii) an internal coil immersed in the liquid and (iii) an external heat exchanger, through which the liquid is recirculated by a pump. With small-scale fermentors, approach (i) is common, whereas approach (iii) is sometimes used with large-scale fermentors. These heat transfer surfaces are used for... 

Figure 23.1 Schematic of a typical industrial fermentor. (Figure from Jon Gunther, PhD Thesis, Dept of Chemical Eng., UCSB, 2008).

A similar level of automation is found in the biochemical industry. Although the volumes of production of biochemicals are smaller by several orders of magnitude than those of bulk chemicals, companies that operate fermentors and other types of biochemical reactors must still work within... 

Rautenbach and MeUis [75] describe a process in which a UF-membrane fermentor and a subsequent NF-treatment of the UF-permeate are integrated. The retentate of the NF-step is recycled to the feed of the UF-membrane reactor (Fig. 13.8). This process has been commercialised by Wehrle-Werk AG as the Biomembrat -plus system [76] and is well suited for the treatment of effluents with recalcitrant components. The process also allows for an additional treatment process, like adsorption or chemical oxidation of the NF-retentate, before returning the NF-retentate to the feed of the UF-membrane fermentor. Usually, the efficiency of these treatment processes is increased as the NF-retentate contains higher concentrations of these components. Pilot tests with landfiU leachates [75] and wastewater from cotton textile and tannery industry have been reported [77]. An overview of chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction and COD concentrations in the permeate are shown in... 

Two major types of fermentors are widely used in industry. The stirred tank, with or without aeration (e.g., air sparging) is most widely used for aerobic and anaerobic fermentations, respectively. The bubble column (tower fermentor) and its modifications, such as airlifts, are used only for aerobic fermentations, especially of a large scale. The important operating variables of the sparged (aerated)... 

As this trend levels off with larger columns, it is recommended that values estimated for a 60 cm column are used. If heat transfer is a problem, then heat transfer coils within the column, or even an external heat exchanger, may become necessary when operating a large, industrial bubble column-type fermentor. Scale-up of an internal loop airlift-type fermentor can be achieved in the same way as for bubble column-type fermentors for external loop airhfts see Section 7.7. 

Temperature Ihe temperature in a bioreactor is an important parameter in any bioprocess, because all microorganisms and enzymes have an optimal temperature at which they function most efficiently. For example, optimal temperature for cell growth is 37 °C for Escherichia coli and 30 °C for Saccharomyces sp, respectively. Although there are many types of devices for temperature measurements, metal-resistance thermometers or thermistor thermometers are used most often for bioprocess instrumentation. The data of temperature is sufficiently reliable and mainly used for the temperature control of bioreactors and for the estimation of the heat generation in a large-scale aerobic fermentor such as in yeast production or in industrial beer fermentation. 

The process of fermentation is used in various industrial settings, including the production of protein biopharmaceuticals. This process involves growing cells and microbes for the production of the desired product in large quantities under well-specified conditions. Fermentation procedures are typically optimized in a systematic manner in a pilot plant with a fermentor with a capacity on the order of 30 liters, and engineers determine the best strategies to develop fermenters with a capacity on the order of 100,000 liters (Ho and Gibaldi, 2003). 

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