Milliliter range bioreactor prototype for stirred biocatalysis processes

Abstract

Reduced reactor dimensions promote homogenous reaction conditions which allowed reaction to be performed under more variable conditions with possible higher yields than that of traditional chemical reactors. Since milliliter range reactor (MRR) are integrated with sensors and can include series of inlet and outlet, these MRR are ideally suited for a continuous mode of operation under well-controlled experimental conditions that is relevant with actual industrial processes. Fabrication of mixing component in this set up using Autodesk- Inventor Professional 2013 software. The design is then printed with 3D printer. Various application of microprocess engineering technology in lab scale has been implemented into production scale. However microprocess scale is too small which is not suitable for continuous reaction, whilst 5L bench-top bioreactor is waste a lot of resources in research and development. Therefore these studies focus on effect of impeller design on homogenization process in MRR. Replacing conventional chemical processes, MRR is designed to sustain resource (chemical) in teaching and research purposes at the same time fully operate as standard operational bioreactor system. The influence of the impeller dimension, design, position and speed rotation in physical mixing process in reactor were evaluate to screen the most appropriate impeller design as well as configuration.