DESIGN OF A FERMENTER

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Assoc.Prof. Dr. Trịnh Khánh Sơn
 UPSTREAM (Sinh học)

DOWNSTREAM (Hóa học)

 Basic funtions of a fermenter for microbial or
3 animal cell culture
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 Temperature control
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LAB SCALE
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 PILOT OR LARGE SCALE

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❑ At pilot and large scale ,when all fermenters are sterilized in situ, any
materials used will have to be assessed on their ability to with stand
pressure sterilization and corrosion and on their potential toxicity and cost
❑ Pilot-scale and industrial scale vessels are normally constructed of
stainless steel or at least have as stainless-steel cladding to limit
corrosion
❑ The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states that steels containing
less than 4% chromium are classified as steel alloys and those containing
more than 4% are classified as stainless steels. Mildsteel coated with
glass or phenolicepoxy materials has occasionally been used
❑ Wood,plastic and concrete have been used when contamination was not
a problem in aprocess
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Can be
controled
designed
 Aeration and agitation
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■ The agitator (impeller)

■ Stirrer glands (miếng đệm) and bearings (ổ bi)
■ Baffles
■ The aeration system (sparger)
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Objectives of
agitation
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The agitation (impeller)

 Impeller design and choice are critical for maintaining proper
hydrodynamic conditions and gas–liquid mass transfer rates
in the reactor
 The impellers are typically one-fourth to one-half the tank
diameter
 Impeller may be classified as
1) Disc turbines
2) Vaned discs
3) Open turbines, variable pitch
4) Propellers
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Types of agitators:
(a) disc turbine
(b) vaned disc
(c) open turbine, variable pitch
(d) marine propeller
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Flow patterns as a function of impeller spacing

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Baffles
 Four baffles are normally incorporated into agitated vessels of all
sizes to prevent a vortex and to improve aeration efficiency
 Baffles should be installed so that a gap existed between them and
the vessel wall,so that there was as couring action around and
behind the baffles thus minimizing microbial growth on the baffles
and the fermenter walls.
 Extra cooling coils may be attached to baffles to improve the cooling
capacity of a fermenter without unduly affecting the geometry
 Usually, each fermentor should have 4 baffles

Strip: dải; vortex: xoáy

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 Cooling coil should be set on baffle → increase heat transfer effect

 Reduce the whirlpool
 Increase the effect of air-inlet
 Vessles which has a volume > 3 dm3 may be contain 6 – 8 baffles
 Width of a baffle is equal to ~1/10 diameter of vessel and set up along
of vessel height
o Increase width of baffle → slightly increase the effect of mixing
o But, decrease width of baffle → significantly reduce effect of mixing
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internal
cooling
coil

impeller

baffle
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Aeration system (sparger)

Porous sparger

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Orifice sparger (perforated sparger)

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Nozzle sparger
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Porous sparger
o The porous sparger of sintered glass, ceramics or metal, has been used primarily
on a laboratory scale in non-agitated vessels. The bubble size produced from
such spargers is always 10 to 100 times larger than the pore size of the aerator
block through put of airis low because of the pressure drop across the sparger
and there is also the problem of the fine holes becoming blocked by growth of the
microbial culture.
Fig. Spargers for bubble column reactor: (A) sieve plate sparger;
(B) multiple ring sparger; (C) spider; (D) pipe sparger.
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 The achievement and maintenance of aseptic
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conditions
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 The following points need to be considered when designing a fermenter
40 or other vessel,so that it can operate as a contained system
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42 Sterilization of a fermenter
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51 Different types of fermentors
HỌC: (có trong nội dung thi)
1. Sikander Ali, Ayesha Rafique, Mariam Ahmed and Sadia Sakandar. Different types of industrial
fermentors and their associated operations for the mass production of metabolites. 2018.
European journal of pharmaceutical and medical research. 5(5): 109-119.
(chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://storage.googleapis.com/journal-
uploads/ejpmr/article_issue/1525067643.pdf)

2. Fermentation (Industrial)/Basic Considerations (chrome-

extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://www.massey.ac.nz/~ychisti/FermentInd.PDF)
 A typical industrial fermenter
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Fermenter-Part 1

Fermentor Design - Stirred Tank & Air-Lift

Types of Bioreactors

Different types of bioreactor