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Tutorial 3 - Questions

This document contains 4 problems related to biochemical engineering calculations involving fluid flow, mixing, and shear effects in fermentation processes. Problem 1 involves calculations of power draw and mixing time for different impeller designs in a stirred tank fermenter. Problem 2 calculates the maximum permissible power input to avoid shear damage in a stirred bioreactor based on experimental data. Problem 3 uses the Kolmogorov scale approach to estimate maximum stirrer speeds. Problem 4 discusses different types of forces that can cause cell damage during fermentation and explains why cells are damaged during bubble bursting.

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166 views

Tutorial 3 - Questions

This document contains 4 problems related to biochemical engineering calculations involving fluid flow, mixing, and shear effects in fermentation processes. Problem 1 involves calculations of power draw and mixing time for different impeller designs in a stirred tank fermenter. Problem 2 calculates the maximum permissible power input to avoid shear damage in a stirred bioreactor based on experimental data. Problem 3 uses the Kolmogorov scale approach to estimate maximum stirrer speeds. Problem 4 discusses different types of forces that can cause cell damage during fermentation and explains why cells are damaged during bubble bursting.

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tiffanyyy00
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHE4171 - BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Tutorial Problems -T3


Fluid Flow, Mixing and Sheer Effect
Problem 1. Impeller retrofitting
a) A fermenter of diameter 2.3 m and working volume 10 m3 is currently equipped with a Rushton
impeller of diameter the tank diameter. The impeller is operated at 60 rpm. The density and
viscosity of the fermentation fluid are close to those of water, i.e. 1000 kg m-3 and 1 cP,
respectively. Calculate the power draw for operation without aeration.

b) The rate of mixing in stirred vessels is often measured in terms of the mixing time tm, which is
the time required to achieve a certain degree of homogeneity after a pulse input to the system. If
homogeneity is deemed to have been achieved when the concentration of tracer differs from the
final concentration by less than 10% of the total (i.e. final initial) concentration difference, in
stirred tanks, tm is usually 34 times the circulation time tc, which is the time taken for fluid leaving
the impeller to circulate through the vessel and return to the impeller. The smaller the mixing time,
the faster is the mixing process.
The value of the mixing time can be estimated using the following correlation:

2/3

t m = 5.9 D T

VL
P

1/ 3

DT

1/3

Di

where DT is the tank diameter, is the liquid density, VL is the liquid volume, P is the power input,
and Di is the impeller diameter. Estimate the mixing time for the Rushton impeller described in a).

c) It is decided to investigate different impeller designs for retrofitting of the Rushton turbine to
reduce the power required to achieve the same mixing efficiency. For an impeller with diameter
the tank diameter, what power savings can be made while still achieving the mixing time
determined in b) above?

d) Two alternative impeller designs are considered: a larger Rushton turbine with diameter one-half
the tank diameter, and a new hydrofoil impeller also with diameter one-half the tank diameter. In
the turbulent regime, the power number for the large Rushton impeller is 6.0, while the power
number for the hydrofoil is 1.3.
i) For operation at the power input determined in c) above, what are the maximum stirrer speeds
that can be used with the two impellers? Check that operation at these speeds produces turbulent
flow in both cases.
ii) What additional factors need to be considered in deciding between the Rushton and hydrofoil
impellers, particularly if the fermentation requires aeration? Note that the average shear rate
generated by an impeller is directly proportional to the stirrer speed and the effectiveness of
bubble break-up and dispersion increases as the shear rate increases.
1

Problem 2. Cumulative energy dissipation


A small-scale experiment is conducted with plant cells suspended in a fermenter of diameter 14.7
cm stirred with a Rushton turbine of diameter 4.9 cm and blade width 1.0 cm. The threshold
cumulative energy dissipation causing significant shear damage to the cells is observed to be 107
J m-3.
This information is to be used to design a 10 m3 stirred bioreactor of diameter 2.3 m. Two
different impellers are considered; both have 6 blades and blade width/impeller diameter ratio of
0.2. One impeller is a Rushton turbine with diameter one-third the tank diameter and NP = 5.5;
the other is a downward-pumping pitched-blade axial-flow turbine with diameter half the tank
diameter and NP = 1.6.
The plant cell culture will be operated as a chemostat with dilution rate 0.2 day-1. Under these
conditions, the fluid density is 1000 kg m-3, the viscosity is 30 mPa s, and the volume fraction of
cells in the broth is 0.45.
1 Pa s = 1 kg m-1 s-1
1 W = 1 J s-1
1 J = 1 kg m2 s-2
(a) For the 10 m3 bioreactor, what is the maximum permissible power input with the Rushton
impeller to avoid shear damage?
(b) Assuming that aeration of the plant cell culture has a negligible effect on power consumption,
what is the maximum permissible operating speed for the Rushton impeller?

Problem 3. Scale of turbulence


(a) The average size of the plant cells in Problem 1 is about 120 m. Use the Kolmogorov scale
approach to estimate the maximum stirrer speed for operation of the Rushton and pitchedblade turbines in the 10 m3 stirred bioreactor.
(b) Comment on the differences between these results and those found in Problem 1.
(c) The same 10 m3 stirred bioreactor is used to culture animal cells on microcarrier beads. The
characteristic dimension of the microcarrier particles is 120 m. The culture properties are
similar to those described for the plant cells in Problem 1, except that the broth viscosity is
similar to that of water at about 1 mPa s. Use the Kolmogorov scale approach to estimate
the maximum stirrer speed for operation of the Rushton and pitched-blade turbines.
(d) Are the answers in (c) consistent with your expectations?

Problem 4.
(a) Cells can be damaged by different forces caused by shearing. Describe in words, three types
of forces that can cause cell damages and identify two major forces causing cell damages.
(b) Animal cells can be cultured either in the form of suspended cells or attached to microbead
carriers. Use the theory of Kolmogorov scale approach to explain which system is more
sensitive to shear force.
(c) Explain why cells are damaged when bubbles burst. In doing so, draw pictures to show the
process of bubble burst.

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