Effect of rates of aeration and agitation on the volumetric coefficient of oxygen transfer in the production of bikaverin

Abstract

The volumetric mass transfer coefficient and the power number are some of the most important parameters in engineering; they are needed to scale up the equipment and/or processes. Besides, the volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) for the different operational conditions (aeration and agitation rates) were obtained in the culture medium free of microorganisms and for the fermentation, such conditions were found for the most production of bikaverin. The Reynolds number and the power were determined for different treatments in bioreactor. The results in the bioreactor showed that high speed of agitation and low aeration rate favor bikaverin production, the highest production was 112.23 mgL-1 with the condition of 0.1 vvm and 500 rpm was found on the average kLa during the fermentation of 41.42 h-1, whereas, to the culture medium without microorganisms the kLa increases proportionally to the increase of the agitation and aeration rates