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Oxygen transfer enhancement in aqueous/perfluorocarbon fermentation systems: I. experimental observations
Author(s) -
Junker Beth H.,
Hatton T. Alan,
Wang Daniel I. C.
Publication year - 1990
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.260350605
Subject(s) - oxygen , aqueous solution , chemistry , aqueous two phase system , phase (matter) , diffusion , dispersion (optics) , industrial fermentation , chemical engineering , fermentation , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , optics , physics , engineering
A new fiber‐optic dissolved oxygen sensing technique was applied to the study of two‐phase aqueous/perfluorocarbon (pfc) dispersions. These dispersions were examined for their oxygen transfer enhancement capability in the absence and presence of an oxygen‐consuming reaction. For the pfc‐in‐water dispersions, oxygen uptake rate (OUR) enhancements were equal both with and without oxygen‐consuming cells present in the aqueous phase. In contrast, for water‐in‐pfc dispersions, OUR enhancements inthe presence of reaction were limited by oxygen diffusion across the aqueous phase droplets. Nevertheless, enhancement factors of 5–10 on an aqueous phase volume basis were obtained in a 75% pfc dispersion.These oxygen transfer enhancements were directly translatable into enhancements in overall fermenter productivity for actual microbial cultivation systems.