Tracking of Dissolved Oxygen Distribution and Consumption Pattern in a Bespoke Bacterial Growth System

Microbial cells are used to produce valuable bioproducts. Dense cultures, however, have a high demand for dissolved oxygen which is challenging, considering the low solubility of oxygen in liquid. This study of design and simulation of a gaslift bioreactor highlights a vital limitation of growth, which is the oxygen limitation and sustain aerobic cultures. The aerobic growth has the effect of greatest resource efficiency in that the highest fraction of dosing is done with the largest concentration driving force near critical dissolved oxygen levels and the lowest fraction occurs with near saturated dissolved oxygen values. The results indicate that oxygen homogeneously distributed with limited dead zones at the bottom. The developed system produces 40.5 % more biomass compared with conventional systems, which suffer from oxygen depletion.