Characterization of Diffusion and Flow Relations in the Novel Membrane Based Perfusion Bioreactor

Abstract

The G-System, a membrane based bioreactor, is a perfusion system for the continuous production particularly of fragile proteins by means of mammalian cell cultures. The cells are cultivated within the inner lumen of the membrane chambers. These membrane chambers are moved between a gas phase for oxygen supply as well as a medium phase for nutrient supply and harvest outflow. The membrane has a pore size of similar to 0.6 mu m, this means that the product proteins will pass through the membrane and be transported out of the bioreactor continuously by the perfusion flow. To model the process inside such a system it is necessary to detect some basic information about the bioreactor. The permeation coefficients for glucose and an instance-protein should represent all sizes of substances which can pass through the membrane by diffusion. Furthermore, for the supply of the cells certain homogeneity of the medium is necessary. Analyses of the flow dynamics inside the module, the mixing characteristic as well as the retention time distribution of the medium will be shown.