Transport and kinetics in sandwiched membrane bioreactors.

A bioreactor in which living yeast cells are sandwiched between an ultrafiltration membrane and a reverse osmosis membrane was constructed, and experiments were performed for the conversion of substrate glucose to product ethanol. A set of equations that include both transport through a series of barrier layers and bioreaction rate were developed to predict the performance of the sandwich bioreactor. The above equations were solved by using numerical values for the transport parameter and the bioreaction rate constant, and the results are compared with the experimental data.