Project: Systematic consideration of inhomogeneity at the large scale: towards a stringent development of industrial bioprocesses

The project aims to systematically elucidate the influence of increasing bioreactor inhomogeneity which occurs in industrial-scale bioreactor, with respect to microbial physiology and production performance of Corynebacterium glutamicum, a microorganism with broad industrial applications. Early consideration of inhomogeneity issues during lab scale process development will facilitate the selection of the most potent production strain, accelerate the upscaling process and improve the performance at production scale. Such inhomogeneous conditions can be mimicked at lab scale by a so called scale-down simulator bioreactor, consisting of a well-mixed stirred tank reactor (STR) and a plug-flow reactor (PFR) connected in series to it. During operation the cultivation volume is continuously pumped from the STR through the PFR simulating zones of inhomogeneity known to be present at the large scale. This central challenge of inhomogeneity is addressed, for the first time, by an effort bridging both, the cellular and the process level, enabled by scale-down simulator bioreactor technology, innovative process analytical technology, multi-omics analysis and genetic engineering.

Acronym SCILS
Duration 01/01/2013 - 31/12/2016
Website visit project website
Network ERA-IB-2
Call 3rd ERA-IB Joint Call

Project partner

Number Name Role Country
Asociación de Investigación (INBIOTEC) Instituto de Biotecnología de León Avda. Partner Spain
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institute of Bio-and Geosciences 1 Coordinator Germany
Loughborough University, Department of Chemical Engineering Partner United Kingdom
Sequip S+E GmbH Partner Germany
SINTEF (Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning). Partner Norway
Technische Universität Berlin Department of Biotechnology Chair of Bioprocess Engineering, Partner Germany
Vitalys I/S Limfjordsvej Partner Denmark