SCALE-UP OF AIRLIFT-LOOP BIOREACTORS BASED ON MODELING THE OXYGEN MASS-TRANSFER

Experimental data for oxygen mass transfer have been estimated in airlift-reactors with outer loop and a volume of 2 1, 80 1 and 800 1 respectively and a 70 1 inner loop reactor. The utilized multiphase system contained air, water and, in some cases, polymer granulate as solid phase. Five oxygen-transfer models are taken into consideration, and scaling up of airlift-bioreactors with regard to oxygen transfer is discussed.