Technology Transfer Department

Application sectors

Problem to solve

The fermentation and bioreaction plant is used to study microbial growth processes in liquid culture and to introduce elements of innovation in production systems through R&ST, demonstration, dissemination and technology transfer activities. The instrumental equipment present on the fermentation plants allows to monitor and control different microbial growth parameters compared to fermentation conducted in flasks. The evaluation of the results obtained allows the scaling-up of the process from bench-scale to pre-industrial scale bioreactors. The strengths of the plant are the size of the vessels that are difficult to find in other research facilities and the possibility of simultaneously using the bioreactors for fermentation processes. The characteristics of the plant could attract potential users such as research institutions or companies operating in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, phytoiatric and agri-food sectors.

Description

The plant is configured as follows: 1) A 500-liter BBI BIOSTAT D500 fermenter equipped with automatic control of reaction parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen. Furthermore, it is equipped with an analyzer of the gases present in the reaction atmosphere, a mechanical foam breaker system and a vertical stirrer with Rushton turbines. 2) A 50-liter BBI BIOSTAT D50 fermenter, completely similar to the previous one, used to produce an inoculum sufficient for the fermentations carried out in the D500 fermenter. The two fermenters are connected by a sterile line for the transfer of the inoculum. 3) A 200-liter steel container for the soil preparation 4) No. 4 sterile containers for nutrients 5) A 15-liter BBI BIOSTAT C fermenter The fermentation and bioreaction plant is served by a series of utilities (steam, compressed air, demineralized water and mains water) as well as other systems necessary for the downstream processes (plate centrifuge, filtration plant, freeze-drying plant).

Research group involved