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Enhanced Nutrient Transport in Hollow Fiber Perfusion Bioreactors: A Theoretical Analysis
Author(s) -
Schonberg Jeffrey A.,
Belfort Georges
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
biotechnology progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.572
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6033
pISSN - 8756-7938
DOI - 10.1002/btpr.5420030205
Subject(s) - convection , péclet number , mass transfer , thiele modulus , mechanics , chemistry , bioreactor , perfusion , thermodynamics , materials science , chromatography , physics , medicine , organic chemistry , cardiology
Entrapped cells (or enzyme) in hollow fiber perfusion reactors is an attractive method for producing concentrated biologicals. Inherent in densely packed‐cell masses are possible mass transfer limitations due to rate limiting transport processes resulting in loss of cell viability. To overcome this limitation, convective fluxes superimposed on diffusion have recently been proposed for entrapped animal cell perfusion bioreactors. We assessed whether radial fluid convection would enhance performance. In an asymptotic analysis using singular perturbation, we show that for large axial Peclet number, Pe −1/3 «« 1 , it is permissible to ignore the mass transfer resistance in the lumen. Data from the literature appear to support this assumption. Radial convection of the feed in a shell and tube hollow fiber perfusion reactor is shown to be useful in increasing catalyst efficiency and production rates per unit volume. A series solution to the governing equation is presented assuming Darcy flow, first order kinetics, steady state transport, and irreversible reaction. The effect of convection is studied for many Thiele moduli, for each of two cases; catalyst activity being spatially uniform in one case and distributed in the second. Performance is essentially the same in each case.