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High‐pressure—temperature bioreactor for studying pressure—temperature relationships in bacterial growth and productivity
Author(s) -
Miller Jay F.,
Almond Edward L.,
Shah Nilesh N.,
Ludlow Jan M.,
Zollweg John A.,
Streett William B.,
Zinder Stephen H.,
Clark Douglas S.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.260310503
Subject(s) - bioreactor , thermophile , methanogen , methanococcus , methane , bacterial growth , growth rate , bar (unit) , chemical engineering , materials science , biochemical engineering , chemistry , biology , archaea , bacteria , organic chemistry , genetics , geometry , mathematics , physics , meteorology , engineering
Thermophilic organisms offer many potential advantages for biotechnological processes; however, realization of the promise of thermophiles will require extensive research on bacterial thermophily and high‐temperature cultivation systems. This article describes a novel bioreactor suitable for precise studies of microbial growth and productivity at temperatures up to 260°C and pressures up to 350 bar. The apparatus is versatile and corrosion resistant, and enables direct sampling of both liquids and gases from a transparent culture vessel without altering the reaction conditions. Gas recirculation through the culture can be controlled through the action of a magnetically driven pump. Initial studies in this bioreactor of Methanococcus jannaschii , an extremely thermophilic methanogen isolated from a deep‐sea hydrothermal vent, revealed that increasing the pressure from 7.8 to 100 bar accelerated the production of methane and cellular protein by this archaebacterium at 90°C, and raised the maximum temperature allowing growth from 90 to 92°C. Further increases in pressure had little effect on the growth rate at 90°C.