PRESENTED

BY
S.SWARNALATHA
2015008044
 Bioreactors can be classified according to various
different criteria:
 a. Type and form of biocatalyst: free cells in
submerged cultures; carried bound or immobilized
cells/enzymes; retention or recirculation of the
biocatalyst
 b. Configuration: tank (height/diameter <3), column
(height/diameter > 3)
 c. Energy input and aeration: liquid phase; gas phase;
combined
 d. Hydrodynamics: perfect mixing; partial mixing; no
mixing;
 e. Mode of operation: batch; continuous; fed-batch.
 Stirred tank bioreactor
 Air-lift bioreactor
 Bubble column fermenter
 Tray fermenter
 Fluidized bed bioreactor
 Packed bed bioreactor
 Photo bioreactor
 Membrane bioreactor
 Rotary drum bioreactor
 Immobilized cell bioreactor
 Enzymes, viable cells, plant cells and animal cells
can be immobilized.
 It can be divided into stirred tank reactors, fixed
bed reactors, fluidized bed reactors.
 These reactors can also combined or modified.
 ADVANTAGES
 ICB are also more stable than chemostats.
 More biomass means that the fermenter
contains more biocatalysts, thereby high
bioconversion rates can be achieved.
 Stirred tank reactors
 In these reactors, mechanical stirrers (using
impellers) are used to mix the reactor to
distribute heat and materials (such as
oxygen and substrates).
 USES:
 Stirred tank reactors are commonly used for
batch processes with slight modifications.
 The Stirred tank reactor’s offer excellent
mixing and reasonably good mass transfer
rates.
 Used in chemical industry the mixing
concepts are well developed.
Design of Stirred
Tank Fermenter
Advantages of Stirred Tank Bioreactor

 Continuous operation
 Good temperature control
 Easily adapts to two phase runs
 Simplicity of construction.
 Low operating (labor) cost
 Easy to clean.
 Functions:
 Homogenization, suspension of solids, dispersion
of gas-liquid mixtures, aeration of liquid and heat
exchange.
 These are tall reactors which use air alone to mix the
contents.
 In the bubble column bioreactor, the air or gas is
introduced at the base of the column through
perforated pipes or plates, or metal micro porous
spargers.
 The flow rate of the air/gas influences the
performance factors —O2 transfer, mixing.
 The bubble column bioreactors may be fitted with
perforated plates to improve performance.
 The vessel used for bubble column bioreactors is
usually cylindrical with an aspect ratio of 4-6.
 Used in production of Baker’s yeast, beer and
vinegar.
 Used in aeration and treatment of wastewater.
 Used for citric acid production.
 Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is the combination of
a membrane process like microfiltration or ultra filtration
with a biological wastewater treatment process,
the activated sludge process.
 It is now widely used for municipal and industrial
wastewater treatment.
 Advantages of Membrane Bioreactor
 The loss of enzyme is reduced.
 Enzyme lost by denaturation can be make up by
periodic addition of enzyme.
 Substrate and enzyme can be easily replaced.
 Air lift reactors
 These reactors are similar to bubble column reactors,
but differ by the fact that they contain a draft tube.
 The draft tube is typically an inner tube which improves
circulation and oxygen transfer and equalizes shear
forces in the reactor.
 USES
 ALBs can be used for both free and immobilized cells.
 It is ideally suited for aerobic cultures since oxygen mass
transfer coefficient are quite high in comparison to stirred
tank reactors.
 This is ideal for SCP production from methanol as
carbon substrate.
 This is used mainly to avoid excess heat produced
during mechanical agitation .
 Low shear
 Simple design
 Easier to maintain sterility
 Increased oxygen solubility
 Can allow large vessels.
 Low energy requirement vs. stirred tank.
 Greater heat removal vs. stirred tank.
 DISADVANTAGES
 High capital cost
 High energy cost
 Foaming hinders gas-liquid separation
 Greater air throughput and higher pressure needed.
 Fluidized bed reactors
 In fluidized bed reactors, cells are "immobilized" small
particles which move with the fluid.
 The small particles create a large surface area for cells
to stick to and enable a high rate of transfer of oxygen
and nutrients to the cells.
 Most of the FBBs developed for biological systems
involving cells as biocatalysts are three phase systems
(solid, liquid & gas).
 The volumetric productivity attained in FBBs is
usually higher than in stirred tank and packed bed
bioreactors.
 Uniform particle mixing.
 DISADVANTAGES:
 Increased reactor vessel size.
 Lack of current understanding.
 Erosion of internal compounds.
 Packed bed reactors
 In packed bed reactors, cells are immobilized on large
particles.
 These particles do not move with the liquid.
 Packed bed reactors are simple to construct and
operate but can suffer from blockages and from poor
oxygen transfer.
 USES:
 Packed bed or fixed bed bioreactors are commonly
used with attached biofilms especially in wastewater
engineering.
 Advantages:
 Higher conversion per unit mass of catalyst than other
catalytic reactors.
 Low operating cost and Continuous operation.
 No moving parts to wear out.
 Catalyst stays in the reactor.
 Reaction mixture/catalyst separation is easy.
 Design is simple.
 Effective at high temperatures and pressures.
 DISADVANTAGES
 Undesired heat gradients.
 Poor temperature control.
 Difficult to clean.
 Difficult to replace catalyst.
 Undesirable side reactions.
 A photo bioreactor (PBR) is a bioreactor which incorporates
some type of light source (that may be natural sunlight or
artificial illumination).
 USES
 Used to grow small phototrophic organisms such
as cyanobacteria, algae, or moss plants.
 These organisms use light through photosynthesis as
their energy source and do not require sugars or lipids as
energy source.
 Consequently, risk of contamination with other organisms
like bacteria or fungi is lower in photo bioreactors when
compared to bioreactors for heterotroph organisms.
ADVANTAGES OF PHOTOBIOREACTOR
 Higher productivity
 Large surface to volume ratio

 Better control of gas transfer

 Reduction in evaporation of growth medium
 More uniform temperature

 Better protection from outside contamination.

 Space saving – Can be mounted vertically,
horizontally or at an angle, indoors or outdoors.
 Reduced Fouling – Recently available tube self
cleaning mechanisms can dramatically reduce
fouling.
 DISADVANTAGES
 Capital cost is very high.
 The technical difficulty in sterilizing.
 In this, the drum is filled with 40% of its volume
and rotated by means of rollers.
 It is particularly suitable for the cultivation of the
plant cell cultures.
ADVANTAGES
 High oxygen transfer.
 Good mixing Facilitated better growth and impart
less hydrodynamic stress.
DISADVANTAGES
Difficult to scale up.
 One of the simplest and widely used fermenters.
 Its basic part is a wooden, metal or plastic tray, often
with a perforated or wire mesh bottom to improve air
circulation.
 A shallow layer of less than 0.15m deep, pretreated
substrate is placed on tray for fermentation.
 Temperature and humidity controlled chambers are used
for keeping the individual trays or stacks.
 Cheesecloth may be used to cover the
trays to reduce contamination.
 Inoculation and occasional mixing are
done manually, often by hand.