Optimization of a fixed-bed bioreactor used in wastewater treatment is addressed. The objective of optimization is to maximize the treatment efficiency of the biofilter by manipulating the feed flow rate while satisfying operational constraints. Numerical results indicate that the optimal input is characterized as being on the boundary of the admissible region. Thus, the characterized optimal s...

Plant derived chemicals are valuable sources for a variety of pharmaceuticals, flavors, dyes, fragrance, stimulants, poisons. Hairy roots are induced in susceptible plants by transformation with Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Here we summarize the recent work using a novel bioreactor, the mist reactor, for the culture of hairy roots from many plant species. This study is based on the development of ...

An analysis of the local processes occurring in a trickle-bed bioreactor (TBB) with a first-order bioreaction shows that the identification of the TBB operating regime requires knowledge of the substrate concentration in the liquid phase. If the substrate liquid concentration is close to 0, the rate-controlling step is mass transfer at the gas-liquid interface; when it is close to the value in ...

Fluidized-bed bioreactors (FBBR’s) offer a promising alternative to existing treatment technologies for the treatment of water contaminated with chlorinated solvents. The objective of this research was to test a laboratory-scale FBBR for removal of trichloroethene (TCE) from groundwater and to study the FBBR kinetic behavior so that field-scale treatment systems could be designed. Phenol was se...

A fluidized bed bioreactor has been used to carry out biological denitrification in the present work as it offers many advantages over other types of reactors. Plastic beads of low density (1055 kg/m3) were used as fluidizing media with Pseudomonas stuzeri, a denitrifying microorganism immobilized on them. The denitrification rate under different operating conditions was studied. The results of...

This study investigated perchlorate reduction by sulfur utilizing perchlorate reducing bacteria (SUPeRB). SUPeRB cultures were enriched from a denitrifying wastewater inoculum in medium containing elemental sulfur (S), crushed oyster shell, nutrients and perchlorate. Perchlorate was reduced from 5 to < 0.5 mg/L in approximately 15 days. The enrichment culture was subsequently inoculated into a ...

Biosurfactants are surface active substances which reduce interfacial tension and are produced or excreted at the microbial cell surface. We evaluated the biosurfactant production by Aspergillus fumigatus and Phialemonium sp. in solid state processes using fixed-bed column reactors. We evaluated two media, rice husks alone (simple support) and rice husks plus defatted rice bran (complex support...

AIM To develop a decisional tool to identify the most cost effective process flowsheets for allogeneic cell therapies across a range of production scales. MATERIALS & METHODS A bioprocess economics and optimization tool was built to assess competing cell expansion and downstream processing (DSP) technologies. RESULTS Tangential flow filtration was generally more cost-effective for the lower...