Applications in bioprocess:

An important application area of bubble columns is theiruse as bioreactors in

which microorganisms are utilized in order to produce industrially valuable
products such as enzymes, proteins, antibiotics, etc. Several recent biochemical
studies utilizing bubble columns as bioreactors are presented in table.

BIOPRODUCT BIOCATALYST
Thienamycin Streptomyces cattleya
Glucoamylase Aureobasidiumpullulans
Acetic acid Acetobacteraceti
Monoclonal antibody Hybridoma cells
Plant secondary metabolites Hyoscyamusmuticus
Taxol Taxus cuspidate
Organic acids (acetic, butyric) Eubacteriumlimosum
Low oxygen tolerance Arabidopsis thaliana
Ethanol fermentation Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Author Arcuri using Streptomyces cattleya, studied the production of

thienamycin with continuously operated bubble column bioreactor. Author
Federiciet performed the production of glucoamylase by Aureobasidiumpullulans.
Sun and Furusaki investigated the production of acetic acid in a bubble column by
using Acetobacteraceti. Author Rodrigues reported that the cultivation of
hybridoma cells in a bubble column reactor resulted in a high monoclonal antibody
productivity of 503 mg/l day. Bordonaro and Curtis designed a 15l bubble column
reactor to produce root cultures of Hyoscyamusmuticus which in turn produces
plant secondary metabolites. Author Son developed a novel bubble column
bioreactor to produce taxol by Taxuscuspidate and inoculated the cells in various
type of bioreactors to test growth performance. Chang cultivated
Eubacteriumlimosum on carbon monoxide to produce organic acids in a bubble
column reactor. Author Shiaoet investigated the tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana
hairy roots to low oxygen conditions in a bubble column reactor. A recent study
that was not aimed to produce a bioproduct but instead, investigate the
hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of the bubble column in the
presence of microorganisms has been carried out by Prakash. They utilized a
suspension of yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as the solid phase in an air–
water system. The study of Ogbonna was based on the potential of producing fuel
ethanol from sugar beet juice in a bubble column. In this study yeast cells
(Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were used in order to investigate the feasibility of
scaling up the process.
 The present review covers basic concepts related to bubble column reactors
such as design and scale-up, fluid dynamics and regime analysis, and important
parameters characterizing their operation by reviewing the findings of several
selected published works over the last 20 years.