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Improvement of foam breaking and oxygen-transfer performance in a stirred-tank fermenter

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Abstract

This study examined a stirred-tank fermenter (STF) containing low-viscosity foaming liquids with an agitation impeller and foam-breaking impeller mounted on the same shaft. Results showed that the performance of the foam-breaking impeller can be improved by changing a conventional six-blade turbine impeller into a rod impeller as the agitation impeller. The volumetric oxygen-transfer coefficient, k L a, in the mechanical foam-control method (MFM) using a six-blade vaned disk as the foam-breaking impeller in the STF with the rod impeller was approximately five times greater than that of the chemical foam-control method (CFM) adding an anti-foaming agent in the STF with the six-blade turbine impeller. Application of the present method to the cultivation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae K-7 demonstrated that the cultivation time up to the maximum cell concentration was remarkably shorter than that achieved using a conventional CFM.

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Abbreviations

C :

Concentration of Na2SO3 (kmol m−3)

D F :

Foam-breaking impeller diameter (m)

D T :

Column diameter (m)

G :

Gravitational acceleration (m s−2)

He :

Henry’s law constant (Pa m3 mol−1)

H L :

Static liquid height in vessel (m)

k L a :

Volumetric oxygen-transfer coefficient (s−1)

N :

Impeller rotational speed (rpm)

P :

Partial pressure of oxygen (Pa)

P a :

Pneumatic power of gas input (W)

P g :

Agitation power of gassed liquid (W)

P gm :

Power consumed for agitation and foam breaking (W)

P T :

Power input (W)

Q :

Volumetric gas flow rate (m3 s−1)

Q v :

Specific air-sparge rate (VVM)

t m :

Mixing time (s)

VVM:

Volumetric gas sparged per volume of liquid per minute (min−1)

V L :

Working liquid volume (m3)

μ:

Viscosity of liquid (Pa s)

ρ:

Density of liquid (kg m−3)

σ:

Surface tension of liquid (N m−1)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, Niigata Institute of Technology, Fujihashi, Kashiwazaki, 945-1103, Niigata, Japan

    Satoshi Takesono, Masayuki Onodera & Kiyoshi Toda

  2. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Niigata University, Ikarashi 2, 950-2181, Niigata, Japan

    Masanori Yoshida, Kazuaki Yamagiwa & Akira Ohkawa

Authors
  1. Satoshi Takesono
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  2. Masayuki Onodera
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  3. Kiyoshi Toda
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  4. Masanori Yoshida
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  5. Kazuaki Yamagiwa
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  6. Akira Ohkawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satoshi Takesono.

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Takesono, S., Onodera, M., Toda, K. et al. Improvement of foam breaking and oxygen-transfer performance in a stirred-tank fermenter. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 28, 235–242 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-005-0028-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-005-0028-x

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