Introduction to Bioreactor Design

The bioreactor is at the core of industrial biotechnology practice today. This free online course will introduce you to bioreactors and their unique features, and show you which consumer products are made by industrial biotechnology. You will learn the advantages of choosing biotechnology over chemical synthesis and how to operate the basic control systems of a bioreactor. Some important questions that must be answered to run an efficient bioprocess will be considered. Significant factors that you must consider before choosing a mode of operation will also be covered. You will be able to classify bioreactors based on their modes of operations, process requirements, and method of cultivating culture. Next, you will examine the operating modes of common bioreactors such as batch, fed-batch, and continuous models. You will also be able to determine the volume of the reactor needed to meet the production target and calculate the productivity for the reactor volume, process kinetics, and conversion. The classification of growth kinetics based on the relationship between product synthesis and energy generation in the cell will be explained. The course goes on to deal with unstructured and distributed empirical models, you will learn the underlying assumptions in this model. What are the different phases in batch culture? This course will help you examine them, learn the terminologies for microbial growth, and discover the relationship between the specific growth rate of a microbe and its substrate concentration.

Next, you will be able to apply mathematical models for bioreactors, analyze their behavior and specify operating parameters. Discussions on many numerical problems using equations such as the Monod equation, design, and performance equation of batch fermenter, will be delivered. Some improvements made to the Monod equation will be shown and you will be able to use it to determine the growth rate of microorganisms. You will examine a typical growth curve for a bacterial population and discuss what batch growth yield coefficients are. Discover how the environmental conditions inside the bioreactor - such as temperature, nutrient concentrations, pH, and dissolved gases - affect the growth and productivity of the organisms. You will learn how to calculate biomass production, estimate the time required, and outline the implications of cell density. All the possible measurements of cell concentration by direct and indirect methods of growth kinetics are also covered in this section of the course.

Then you will study fermentation process kinetics, which is potentially valuable for the improvement of batch process performance. Learn mathematical models to facilitate data analysis and provide a strategy for solving problems encountered in fermentations. The design of a bioreactor involves various critical parameters while the size and shape of a bioreactor differ depending on the various applications in bioprocesses. You will identify the major parameters that characterize the performance of bioreactors and techniques to measure and control them. By completing this course, you gain valuable insights into the principles of bioreactor design and also develop your appreciation and understanding of bioprocessing technology.