Scale-up of reactors is a major task for chemical engineers and is the fundamental step in the realization and optimization of industrial plants. This free online course gives you insights into a suitable criterion for the scale-up of bioprocesses and how to characterize non-ideality in bioreactors. The fundamental principles of scale-up, such as geometrical and dynamic similarity of flow fields, will be comprehensively reviewed. You will see the key variables of the biochemical process influenced by its size and the three distinct stages involved in bioprocess development. Find out the reasons why scale-up is a problem and determine the possible solutions. Also, gain an understanding of the pilot plant and large-scale production unit and the forces that may act on the fluid element during agitation. You will learn how to determine power consumption by an agitator, the impeller speed, and how using a different fluid can make scale-up possible.

The objective of scaling up a reactor design is to determine the criteria on which to base the transfer of the laboratory scale into a full-scale commercial unit. This course will teach you the different criteria used for scale-up. The scale-up and dimensionless analysis are scale-dependent implying different behaviour on laboratory, model, or full-scale plants. You will consider the dimensionless parameters and mathematical modelling. The factors influencing dimensionless mixing systems and the equation providing the relationship between mixing time in two scales fermenters when constant mixing quality is the basis of scale-up will be analyzed. Learn the important considerations in dimensionless mixing factors and the steps to be followed in scale-up.

Finally, you will study the concept of non-ideality in reactors. The ideal reactors, such as the plug flow and mixed flow reactor and their different behaviours in terms of conversion and product distribution, will be explained. Find out the causes of deviations in flow patterns and other interrelated factors that make up the contacting or flow patterns such as the residence time distribution, state of aggregation of the flowing material, and the earliness and lateness of mixing of material in the vessel. The pulse and step input experiment will be used to find the relationship between the F and E curve. Learn how to calculate the mean residence time of fluid, and tabulate and plot the exit age distribution of the E curve. The steady-state assumptions in closed vessel boundaries, how to characterize distribution, and exponential decay expressed by differential equations will be discussed. Scale-up is perhaps one of the hardest and most complex steps of any fermentation process for engineers. Engineers must take into account all aspects that affect the integrity of the fermentation during the process. This course will be of interest to students in the field of bioprocessing, chemical engineering and other related disciplines, giving you a solid theoretical and analytical grounding in these highlighted aspects of biotechnology.