From bioreactors to bubbles to bacteria: on multi-scale interactions in gas fermentations

One of the major challenges mankind faces nowadays is combating climate change. A substantial fraction of greenhouse gases are released by industrial processes, as steelmaking, (oil)refinery and waste processing. Emissions from these processes can partly be prevented with a recently developed technology called gas fermentation. Within this...

In silico microfluidic chip design to mimic microbial lifelines

In recent years, biotechnological processes have gained increased interest due to their potential for high-value compound production and waste recycling. This shift towards biotechnology is driven by global challenges such as food security, climate change, and the transition to renewable resources. To address the limitations of large-scale...

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of an industrial P. chrysogenum fermentation with a coupled 9-pool metabolic model: Towards rational scale-down and design optimization

We assess the effect of substrate heterogeneity on the metabolic response of P. chrysogenum in industrial bioreactors via the coupling of a 9-pool metabolic model with Euler-Lagrange CFD simulations. In this work, we outline how this coupled hydrodynamic-metabolic modeling can be utilized in 5 steps. (1) A model response study with a fixed...

Euler-Lagrange analysis towards representative down-scaling of a 22 m3 aerobic S. cerevisiae fermentation

With reaction timescales equal to or shorter than the circulation time, the ideal mixing assumption typically does not hold for large scale bioreactors. As a consequence large scale gradients in extra-cellular conditions such as the substrate concentration exist, which may significantly impact the metabolism of micro-organisms and thereby the...