Dr.

Sivashankar Raja
 Stirred tank reactor
• Mixing method:
Mechanical agitation
• High input required
• Baffles are constructed
within the built-in.
• Applications include
production of
antibiotics and
free/immobilized
enzymes
• Draw back is that high
shear forces may break
the cells
SPECIFICATIONS OF A BIOREACTOR
A typical bioreactor consists of following parts:

 Agitator – used for the mixing of the contents of the reactor which keeps
the cells in the perfect homogenous condition for better transport of
nutrients and oxygen to the desired products.
 Baffles – used to break the vortex formation in the vessel, which is usually
highly undesirable as it changes the center of gravity of the system and
consumes additional power.
 Sparger – In aerobic cultivation process, the purpose of the sparger is to
supply adequate oxygen to the growing cells.
 Jacket – The jacket provides the annular area for circulation of constant
temperature of water which keeps the temperature of the bioreactor at a
constant value
 Basic features of a stirred tank
bioreactor
1. An agitator system
2. An oxygen delivery system
3. A foam control system
4. A temperature control system
5. A pH control system
6. Sampling ports
7. A cleaning and sterilization system.
8. A sump and dump line for emptying of the
reactor
 ADVANTAGES OF STIRRED TANK
BIOREACTOR
• Efficient gas transfer to growing cells
• Good mixing of the contents and flexible
operating conditions.
• Continuous operation.
• Good temperature control.
• Simplicity of construction.
• Low operating cost.
• Easy to clean.
• Commercial availability.
 DISADVANTAGES OF STIRRED TANK
BIOREACTOR
• The need for shaft seals and bearings.
• Size limitation by motor, shaft length & weight.
• Power consumption is high.
• Shear rate is high.
• Non ideality behavior
– Channeling
– Clogging
• Foaming
• Not recommended for immobilized cells/enzymes
 Application
• Production of primary and secondary
metabolites
 Bubble column reactor
Mixing method: Gas
sparging
• Simple design
• Good heat and mass
transfer rates
• Low energy input
• Gas-liquid mass transfer
coefficients depend
largely on bubble diameter
and gas hold-up
 Gas Holdup
 Gas holdup is one of the most important operating
parameters because it not only governs phase fraction and
gas-phase residence time but is also crucial for mass transfer
between liquid and gas.
 Gas holdup depends chiefly on gas flow rate, but also to a
great extent on the gas – liquid system involved.
 Gas holdup is defined as the volume of the gas phase
divided by the total volume of the dispersion:
 Gas Holdup (Cont’d)
• The relationship between gas holdup and gas velocity is
generally described by the proportionality:

• In the homogeneous flow regime, n is close to unity. When

large bubbles are present, the exponent decreases, i.e., the
gas holdup increases less than proportionally to the gas flow
rate.
 Superficial gas velocity
Superficial gas velocity is the average velocity of the gas that is
sparged into the column which is simply expressed as the
volumetric flow rate divided by the cross-sectional area of the
column.

Gas holdup in bubble columns depends mainly on superficial gas

velocity.
 Advantages
• Efficient contact between Gas-Liquid-Solid
• High liquid holdup
• Reasonable interphase mass transfer rate at
low energy input
• Limitation of pressure drop
• Easy temperature control
• Little maintenance due to simple construction
• Low cost
 Disadvantages
• Back mixing in both liquid and gas phases
• Short gas phase residence time
• Scale up is poorly understood
• Foaming
• Not suitable for plant and animal cultivation
 Application
• Used for production of bakers yeast, beer and
vinegar.
• Treatment of wastewater
AIRLIFT REACTOR
 Air lift reactors
Mixing method: airlift
• Central draft tube
• Up-flowing stream
and down flowing
stream
• Homogenization of all
components present
• Applications include
bacterial, animal,
plant, fungi and yeast
cells.
 PARTS OF ALR…
• RISER: Connected gas injection-upward air flow.
• DOWNCOMER: Degassed media+cells.
• BASE: Connected to Perforated nozzle bank/
plate/ Sparger to pump pressurized air.
• HEAD SPACE: Gas release region, flocculation,
foam accumulation etc.
• GAS SEPARATOR: Facilitates gas/liquid
recirculation maximizes gas residence time
reduces gas friction in downcomer.
 ALR TYPES DESCRIPTION
INTERNAL LOOP ALR:
• Baffles placed strategically in a single vessel create the
channels required for the circulation
• Shortest path that a bubble cover from the riser to the
downcomer is a straight line.
EXTERNAL LOOP ALR:
• Circulation takes place through separate and distinct
conduits
• There is usually a minimum horizontal distance to be
covered, increases the chances of disengagement of
the bubbles
TYPES OF ALRs….
• Gas hold-up and gas-liquid mass transfer rates in internal loop
airlifts are similar to those in bubble columns.
• Mass transfer rates at identical gas velocities

• Several other empirical mass transfer correlations have been

developed for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids in airlift
reactors.
• The performance of airlift devices is influenced significantly by the
details of vessel construction.
• For example, in internal loop airlifts, changing the distance between
the lower edge of the draft tube and the base of the reactor alters
the pressure drop in this region and affects the liquid velocity and
gas hold-up.
• The depth of draft tube submersion from the top of the liquid also
influences mixing and mass transfer characteristics.
 Advantages
1. Highly energy efficient and productivities are
comparable to those of stirred tank bioreactors.
2. Simple design with no moving parts or agitator for less
maintenance, less risk of defects.
3. Easier sterilization (no agitator shaft parts)
4. Low Energy requirement vs. stirred tank - doesn’t need
the energy for the moving parts (agitator shaft).
5. Greater heat-removal vs. stirred tank-At the Airlift
bioreactor it doesn’t need the heat plate to control the
temperature, because the Draught-Tube which is inside
the bioreactor can be designed to serve as internal heat
exchanger.
 Disadvantages
1. Greater air throughput and higher pressures needed.
2. The agitation on the Airlift bioreactor is controlled by
the supply air to adjust the supply air then the higher
pressure needed.
3. The higher pressure of air needed then more energy
consumption needed and more cost must pay.
4. Inefficient to break the foam when foaming occurs.
5. No bubbles breaker, there are no blades that used as a
breaker the bubbles which produced from the air supply
(sparger).
 Application
1. The reactor is commonly used in the culture of
shear sensitive organisms.
2. Airlift bioreactors are commonly employed for
aerobic bioprocessing technology. They ensure a
controlled liquid flow in a recycle system by
pumping.
3. Due to high efficiency, airlift bioreactors are
sometimes preferred e.g., methanol production,
waste water treatment, single-cell protein
production.
 Packed bed reactor
• Column with
attached biofilm
• Biocatalysts
• Pump is required
to make fluid move
through the
packed bed
• Applications
include waste
water treatment
 Advantages
• Higher conversion per unit mass of catalyst than
other catalytic reactors
• Low operating cost
• Continuous operation
• No moving parts
• 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
 Application
• These are used with immobilized or
particulate biocatalysts.
• High conservation per weight of catalyst than
other catalytic reactors.
• Thus mostly preferred fermentor.
• Used is waste water treatment.
 Fluidized bed reactor
• When the packed
beds are operated
in up-flow mode,
the bed expands
at high liquid flow
rates due to
upward motion of
the particles.
• Energy is required
• Waste water
treatment
 FLUIDIZATION
• Fluidization (or fluidisation) is a process similar to liquefaction
whereby a granular material is converted from a static solid-
like state to a dynamic fluid-like state.
• This process occurs when a fluid (liquid or gas) is passed up
through the granular material.
• When a liquid or gas is passed at very low velocity up through
the bed of solid particles, the particles do not move. If the
fluid velocity is steadily increase, and eventually the particles
start to move and become suspended in the fluid.
• The term fluidization and fluidized bed are used to describe
the condition of fully suspended particles, since the
suspension behaves as a dense fluid.
Fluidized bed reactor Inverse Fluidized bed reactor
 Advantages
1. Uniform Particle Mixing
2. Uniform Temperature Gradients
3. Ability to Operate Reactor in Continuous State
 Disadvantages
1. Increased Reactor Vessel Size
2. Pumping Requirements and Pressure Drop
3. Particle Entrainment
4. Lack of scale up understanding
5. Erosion of Internal Components
6. Pressure Loss Scenarios
 Application
1. These reactors can utilize high density of particles
and reduce bulk fluid density.
2. Fluidized beds are used as a technical process which
has the ability to promote high levels of contact
between gases and solids.
3. In a fluidized bed a characteristic set of basic
properties can be utilized, indispensable to modern
process and chemical engineering
4. The food processing industry
 Trickle bed reactors
• Liquid is sprayed onto
the top of the packing
and trickles down
through the bed in small
rivulets.
• In the process, the
gaseous pollutants on
the surface of the
carriers is adsorbed and
immediately biologically
mineralized (degraded)
by the microorganisms.
 Photobioreactor
• A photobioreactor (PBR) refers to any cultivation system
designed for growing photoautotrophic organisms using
artificial light sources or solar light to facilitate
photosynthesis.
• PBRs are typically used to cultivate microalgae, cyanobacteria,
and macroalgae.
Batch STR or Plug-flow Reactor
(PFR)

48
Batch STR or PFR

4
9
 Batch STR or PFR
If a plug-flow reactor is operated at steady
state, the properties will be constant with
respect to time.

The ideal plug-flow enzyme reactor can

approximate the long tube, packed-bed, and
hollow fiber, or multi-staged reactor.

50
Batch STR or PFR

5
1
Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)

52
CSTR

53
CSTR

54