Chapter 6 - Bioreactor Engineering

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief description of a variety of bioreactor systems, with an overview of the latest advances in their design, control, and applications. While categorizing them by their distinct attributes, it is obvious that there are some overlapping characteristics. In general, most biological reaction systems can be classified into two main groups: suspension systems and immobilization systems. Stirred tank, air-lift, and bubble column bioreactors are mainly for suspension cultures,while membrane, packed bed, and fluidized bed bioreactors are mainly for cultivating attached cells or immobilized enzymatic reactions. The bioreactor should provide optimum conditions (e.g., temperature, pH, oxygen transfer, mixing, and substrate concentration), in addition to its basic function of containment. Bioreactors play an important role in many industries, including fermentation, food, pharmaceuticals, and wastewater treatment. Bioreactor engineering science is experiencing rapid progress. In recent years, microbioreactors have received great interest. With the tremendous progress in functional genomics, metabolic engineering, and systems biology, there is a great potential for a single cell working as a super bioreactor. The high-level expression and efficient recovery of recombinant proteins are two main critical factors that determine the use of transgenic plants as natural bioreactors to produce foreign proteins for industrial applications.