(462c) Design and Simulation of a Continuous Rotating Annular Bioreactor with an Internal Spiroid

This research introduces a continuous bioreactor designed to increase cell oxygenation, growth rate and overall high productivity through its novel geometry. The bioreactor consists of an outer shell cylinder and inner core cylinder, each with adjustable rotational velocities to control the mixing in the reactor and provide a variety of shear environments. The reactor may be operated with or without headspace. Inlet flows are controlled to provide medium and oxygen to the reactor volume. A spiroid tube is attached to the inside of the bioreactor shell wall to increase the gas-liquid contact area and thus improve oxygen transfer. The complex flow patterns were successfully analyzed by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Simulations were conducted for multiphase fluids with various operating conditions to predict the actual reaction environment in the bioreactor prior to experimental studies. Various experiments along with mathematical models were used to calculate the volumetric mass transfer coefficients at different operating conditions for bioreactor models with or without the spiroid tube. The comparison of the computational with experimental results was used to support the improved oxygen transfer performance and to predict the higher cell cultivation performance of this bioreactor due to the addition of the spiroid tube.