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Stirred Fermenter With Liquid Height 2.3 M Is Used To Culture Trichoderma Reesei For - An Equation For The Oxygen

This document discusses using different impellers in a 10 m3 fermenter to culture Trichoderma reesei. It provides equations to calculate the oxygen transfer coefficient (kLa) and power input (PT) for a Rushton turbine and curved-blade disc turbine impeller. It asks to compare the kLa values achieved and percentage contribution to PT from gassing for each impeller. It also asks to estimate the maximum possible cell concentration for each impeller and the gas flow rate needed to achieve the same concentration using the Rushton turbine.

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Hritik Lal
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418 views3 pages

Stirred Fermenter With Liquid Height 2.3 M Is Used To Culture Trichoderma Reesei For - An Equation For The Oxygen

This document discusses using different impellers in a 10 m3 fermenter to culture Trichoderma reesei. It provides equations to calculate the oxygen transfer coefficient (kLa) and power input (PT) for a Rushton turbine and curved-blade disc turbine impeller. It asks to compare the kLa values achieved and percentage contribution to PT from gassing for each impeller. It also asks to estimate the maximum possible cell concentration for each impeller and the gas flow rate needed to achieve the same concentration using the Rushton turbine.

Uploaded by

Hritik Lal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Problem #27: Oxygen transfer with different impellers

A 10-m3 stirred fermenter with liquid height 2.3 m is used to culture Trichoderma reesei for
production of cellulase. The density of the culture fluid is 1000 kg m-3. An equation for the oxygen
transfer coefficient as a function of operating variables has been developed for T. reesei broth:

where kLa has units of s-1, PT is the total power input in W, VL is the liquid volume in m3,

and uG is the superficial gas velocity in m s-1. The fermenter is sparged using a gas flow rate of 0.6
vvm (vvm means volume of gas per volume of liquid per minute). The vessel is stirred with a single
impeller but two alternative impeller designs, a Rushton turbine and a curved-blade disc turbine, are
available. Both impellers are sized and operated so that their ungassed power draw is 9 kW.

The power input from sparging, Pv, can be calculated using the equation: Pv =FgρgHL
(a) If the power loss with gassing is 50% for the Rushton and 5% for the curved-blade turbine,
compare the kLa values achieved using each impeller.
(b) What is the percentage contribution to PT from gassing with the two different impellers?
(c) If the cell concentration is limited to 15 g 1-1 using the Rushton turbine because of mass transfer
effects, estimate the maximum possible cell concentration with the curved-blade disc turbine.
It is decided to install the Rushton turbine, but to compensate for the effect on kLa of its loss of
power with gassing by increasing the gas flow rate.
(d) Estimate the gas flow rate required to obtain the same maximum cell concentration using the
Rushton turbine as that achieved with the curved-blade disc turbine. Express your answer in vvm.
What are your assumptions? (Iterative solution may be required.)

VIVEK R
Problem

A stirred aerated bioreactor of diameter = height = 2 m has a Rushton turbine 1/3rd


the tank diameter in size. The bioreactor contains Newtonian culture broth with
the same density as water and with viscosity 4 cP.
(a) If the specific power consumption must not exceed 1.5 kW m-3, determine the
maximum allowable stirrer speed.
(b) The tank is now aerated. In the presence of gas bubbles, the approximate
relationship between ungassed power number (NP,)0 and gassed power number

(NP,)g is: (NP,)g =0.5 (NP,)0. What maximum stirrer speed is now possible in the
VIVEK R BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus

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