Recent Studies on Stirred Bioreactors at the SERC Centre for Biochemical Engineering at Birmingham

Abstract

The SERC Centre for Biochemical Engineering was established in 1987 by the Biotechnology Directorate of the Science and Engineering Research Council. A Rolling Grant of ~ £ 2.0 million was made for a Research Programme and another £1 million was given for fully refurbishing and extending the Biochemical Engineering Building to the highest modern standards. The building had been a state-of the-art development in 1956 and remains so today with the SERC Rolling Grant being confirmed every two years since 1987. The latest tranche of money awarded was £2.6 million for four years from October 1993. One of the main research topics of the Centre relates to stirred bioreactors and this paper considers recent developments. Much of the earlier work up to 1990 was covered in previous journal (1.2) and conference (3) reviews and, after a very brief introduction to set the scene, this article mainly presents work since then.