Bioreactor Design

MATA KULIAH: PENGANTAR TEKNOLOGI BIOPROSES

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 What is a bioreactor?
Bioreactor: device, usually a vessel, used to direct the activity of a
biological catalyst to achieve a desired chemical transformation.
Fermenter: type of bioreactor
in which the biocatalyst is a
living cell.

Pre-filtration

Input

Nutrients tank
Waste

Recycle

Product
Bioreactor
Product
separation & purification

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 Product
inhibition

Biomass Microbial
concentration activities

Nutrient Heat
supply removal
Bioreactor
Performance
Effective Product
agitations removal

Sterile Shear
conditions conditions
Aeration

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 Groups of Bioreactor

10%
20%

aerobic
anaerobic
semiaerobic
70%

1. Aerobic bioreactor: Need adequate mixing and aeration

2. Anaerobic bioreactor: no need agitation
3. Semiaerobic bioreactor: No mixing, but need aeration
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 -1. Stirred tank

(+) Low
cost
•Baffles are usually used
to reduce vortex. D=3m, 4
baffles. D>3m, 6-8 baffles
• Applications: free and
immobilized enzyme
reactions. High shear
forces may damage cells
•Require high energy
input. Cooling can be used
to cover excess heat
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 - 2. Bubble column

Application: production of baker’s

yeast, beer, vinegar, and waste water
1< H/D < 6 treatment
Mixing method: Gas sparging
•Simple design
•Good heat and mass transfer
•Low energy input
Gas-liquid mass transfer coefficients
depend largely on bubble diameter and
gas hold-up.

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 - 3. Airlift reactor

High
Steril cost

Low Foaming
shear

Poor nutrient
Large distribution
capacity

There are two liquid steams: up-flowing and down-flowing steams.

Liquid circulates in an airlift reactor as a result of density difference
between riser and downcomer. Aplication: alcoholic fermentation
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- 4. Packed-bed reactor

Packed-bed reactors
are used with
immobilized or
particulate
biocatalysts.

Medium can be fed

either at the top or
bottom and forms a
continuous liquid
phase.

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- 5. Trickle-bed reactor

•The trickle-bed
reactor is another
variation of the packed
bed reactors.
•Liquid is sprayed onto
the top of the packing
and trickles down
through the bed in
small rivulets.
• Application: aerobic
wastewater treatment

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- 6. Fluidized bed reactor

•When the packed beds

are operated in upflow
mode, the bed expands at
high liquid flow rates due
to upward motion of the
particles.
•Channelling and clogging
of the bed are avoided.
•Application: wastewater
treatment and the
production of vinegar.

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 Bioreactor Operation Modes

FED PLUG
BATCH BATCH CSTR
FLOW

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 -1.a. Batch Operation
•A foam breaker may be installed to disperse foam
A batch bioreactor is
normally equipped
with an agitator to mix
the reactant, and the dCs rmax CS
pH of the reactant is r 
dt K m  CS
maintained by
employing either
buffer solution or a pH
controller Batch operation
with stirring

 Cs 0  Cs   rmax t
Cs 0
Change of Cs
K m ln
with time, t
Cs

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-1.b. Fed Batch Operation

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 -2. Plug-flow mode
An ideal plug-flow reactor can
approximate the long
In a plug-flow tube, packed-bed and hollow
reactor, the substrate fiber or multistaged reactor
enters one end of a
cylindrical tube with is F, Cs0 V F, Cs
packed with
immobilized enzyme V Residence
and the product steam t=0  time
leaves at the other F
Continuous operation
end. without stirring

Cs0
K m ln  C s 0  C s   rmax
Cs
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 -3. Continuous stirred-tank

A continuous stirred-
F, Cs0
tank reactor (CSTR) is
an ideal reactor which
is based on the
F, Cs
assumption that the V
reactants are well
mixed.
Continuous
operation with
stirring

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 -3. Continuous stirred-tank – cont.

Mass balance of cell:

F, Cs0
Input - Output  Generation  Accumulation

F, Cs
dX
V F(X 0  X )  rxV  V
dt

dX s the ratio of biomass rate

Steady state: 0 of generation to biomass
dt concentration, rx/X, that
is the specific growth
No cell in inlet: X 0  0 rate; μ r
x

F 1 X
 D
V  F
( X  X 0 )  rx
V
D
(X )   D
X
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  max S
Monod rate: 
Ks  S
 max S DK s
D S 
Ks  S  max  D

X  X0
Y
S0  S

 DK s 
X  X 0  Y  S 0  
  max  D 

At steady state, substrate utilisation is balanced with a rate equation:

  max S    max S 
F ( S 0  S )   V D( S 0  S )   
 Ks  S   Ks  S 
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 Bioreactor Design Properties

1 • Mass Transfer

2 • Heat Transfer

3 • Dimension

4 • Power consumption

5 • Hold Up

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1 • Mass Transfer

Determine KLa

α is proportionality factor, 2x10-3

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2 • Heat Transfer
The reaction in bioreactor, especially fermentation:
generate HEAT
 Need cooling (coils or jacket in vessel)

single layer
T
Conduction qx  kA x
multi layer

Natural
Convection q  hAT
x
Forced

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3 • Dimension

1. Reactor volume
2. Reactor diameter
3. Ratio of reactor diameter to impeller diameter
Dt/Di
4. Ratio of the height of the liquid level to impeller
diameter, HL/Di

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4 • Power consumption

Power consumption per unit volume of liquid

Power consumption:
Pg c N p N 3 Di5
Np  P
N 3 Di5 gc

NP is a function of Re and type of impeller Use graph

N = rpm/60
= ... rps

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Correction factors are used to define actual power

Pact = P. Fc. number of impeller

There is a further discussion for

aeration power
(next subject)

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5 • Hold Up

 Assume air in water

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 Practical Issues for Bioreactors
- Temperature Control (Heat Load)

Heat load: Heat load is determined by energy balances

Heat production rate:

1 Popular
q  V    C  method
Ykcal
q : heat production rate, kcal/ls

V: reactor liquid volume, l

: specific growth rate, s-1
C: biomass concentration (g/l)
Ykcal: a yield coefficient given as
grams of cells formed per kcal energy
released, g cells/kcal
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 -Temperature control (heat transfer)

Heat transfer surface area:

1. Low in (a) external jacket and (b) external coil for small reactors
2. High in (c) internal helical coil and (d) internal baffle coil for large reactors
3. Easily adjustable in (e) a separate external heat exchange unit

Difficult to clean
Easily fouled by cell
growth on the
surface

No cleaning problem
• Sterility
requirement
• Shear forces
imposed on cells
• Depletion of
oxygen
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 -Agitation (gas transfer)

1. Biological reactions almost invariably are three-phase reactions

(gas-liquid-solid). Effective mass transfer between phases is often
crucial. For example, for aerobic fermentation, the supply of
oxygen is critical.
The equation governing the oxygen transfer rate is:


J A  Kl C  C Ag
*
A  C A*  PAg H

Agitation:
•Mechanical stirring (for small reactors, and/or viscous
liquids, low reaction heat)
•Air-driven agitation (for large reactors and/or high reaction
heat)
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- Foaming removal

1. Mechanical foam breaker

(a supplementary
impeller)
2. Chemical antifoam agents
(may reduce the rate of
oxygen transfer)

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 - Other issues

1. Aseptic operation (3-5% of fermentations in an

industrial plant are lost due to failure of sterilization.
2. Construction materials (glass for small
bioreactors, e.g., < 30 liters and corrosion-resistant
stainless steel for large reactors)
3. Sparage design (three designs: porous, orifice and
nozzle)
4. Evaporation control due to dry air input

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THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION

The best person is one give something useful always

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