Group III: Rotating-drum and stirred-drum bioreactors

Abstract

This chapter addresses the design and operation of rotating-drum bioreactors and those stirred-drum bioreactors in which the air is blown into the headspace and not forcefully through the substrate bed itself. This type of bioreactor might be chosen for continuous processes, which will be discussed in Chap. 11. It can also be used for batch processes, which will be the focus of this chapter. Note that there are several bioreactors that are very similar in appearance to rotating-and stirreddrum bioreactors in which air is introduced directly into the bed. This forced aeration would tend to place them in the Group IVa bioreactors considered in Chap. 9 (continuously-agitated, forcefully-aerated bioreactors), however, whether the bioreactor performs more closely to this type of bioreactor or to a rotating-drum or stirred-drum bioreactor depends on the effectiveness of this forced aeration. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.