Maximizing productivity in an immobilized cell reactor.

A vertical immobilized cell reactor employing Saccharomyces cerevisiae cross-linked to a gelatin support with glutaraldehyde has proven to be an effective system to achieve high cell concentrations and high dilution rates. The reactor is very stable over long periods of time, during which the cell concentration increases continuously without achieving steady state. Therefore, periodic regeneration by gas purging is required to remove excess biomass from the interstitial spaces. The glucose concentrations along the reactor follow an exponential profile when plotted as a function of the true residence time. Such profiles are a function of the initial glucose concentration fed to the system. The overall productivity of the reactor is a function of the flow rate and the inlet glucose concentration. For a 99% conversion, the maximum overall productivity is obtained at a substrate concentration of between 15% and 20%. Theoretical cell profiles were obtained and they indicate that mass transfer is promoted at high substrate concentrations and flow rates. The performance of a variety of packing materials having different shapes and materials of construction were compared in a vertical packed bed immobilized cell reactor. With other parameters being constant, the performance of the reactor is dominated by the quantity of cells present. The packing that has the highest surface area per volume of bed yields the most extensive monolayer and gives faster reactor start-up. Packing materials having high biomass loading rates are desirable at prolonged operating periods when growth beyond the monolayer occurs. Ultimately, the packing with the highest initial porosity would be capable of loading the highest cell volume, provided that sufficient interstitial spaces were provided for cell entrapment. When the immobilized cell reactor is operated in the horizontal position, CO2 holdup is decreased, as is evidenced by an increase in liquid holdup. However, the horizontal and vertical reactors showed almost identical substrate profiles at constant cell densities. In addition, under prolonged operation, the performance of the horizontal reactor decayed after several days, while the vertical reactor remained stable for over 40 days. The improved operation of this type of column in the vertical position is attributed to the necessary promotion of mass transfer with CO2 evolution and better liquid distribution. The addition of fatty acids to the media for an ICR results in limiting growth and increasing productivity. Overgrowth can be minimized, thus allowing longer periods of operation without regeneration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)