Polysaccharide production: Experimental comparison of the performance of four mixing devices

Establishment of cultivating strategy for highly aggregated mycelia of Morchella esculenta in a stirred-tank bioreactor

Mycelia of Morchella esculenta were found to aggregate rapidly in a submerged culture, which caused the decrease in dispersed mycelia and the problem of diffusion limitation. The effect of different agitation schemes on the growth of mycelia was investigated in a stirred-tank bioreactor. At the constant speed of 100 or 300 rpm, rapid aggregation caused the biomass concentration to drop to zero in 30 h, which was even worse than achieved under static culture. Intermittent agitation maintained a higher mycelium fragment concentration for 48 h and enhanced the biomass concentration to 4.73 g/L at 120 h. The operation with a polytron connection disrupted effectively mycelium aggregation, thus increasing the specific growth rate, biomass concentration and maximum productivity to 0.0613 1/h, 7.73 g/L and 0.0878 g/L h at 88 h, respectively. Moreover, logistic equations and genetic algorithm (GA) were used for the simulation of biomass growth and estimation of all kinetic coefficients. The operating strategy developed in this study could be used for the production of highly aggregated mycelia, which could also achieve a high cell-density culture in a stirred tank reactor.

Excess turbulence as a cause of turbohypobiosis in cultivation of microorganisms

The present review describes the influence of different types of mixing systems under excess turbulence conditions on microorganisms. Turbohypobiosis phenomena were described by applying a method for measurement of the kinetic energy of flow fluctuations based on the piezoeffect. It can be assumed that the shear stress effect (the state of turbohypobiosis) plays a role mainly when alternative mechanisms in cells cannot ensure a normal physiological state under stress conditions. Practically any system (inner construction of a bioreactor, culture and cultivation conditions, including mixing) requires its own optimisation to achieve the final goal, namely, the maximum product and/or biomass yields from substrate (YP/S or/and YX/S), respectively. Data on the biotechnological performance of cultivation as well as power input, kinetic energy (e) of flow fluctuations, air consumption rate, rotational speed, tip speed, etc. do not correlate directly if the mixing systems (impellers-baffles) are dissimilar. Even the widely used specific power consumption cannot be relied upon for scaling up the cultivation performance using dissimilar mixing systems. A biochemical explanation for substrate and product transport via cell walls, carbon pathways, energy generation and utilisation, etc. furnishes insight into cellular interactions with turbulence of different origin for different types of microorganisms (single cells, mycelia forming cells, etc.).

Current knowledge on biosynthesis, biological activity, and chemical modification of the exopolysaccharide, pullulan

The article presents an overview of the latest advances in investigations of the biosynthesis, molecular properties, and associated biological activity of pullulan. The literature survey on the pullulan biosynthesis is intended to illustrate how the great variety of environmental conditions as well as variability in strain characteristics influences the metabolic pathways of the pullulan formation and effects structural composition of the biopolymer. Molecular properties of pullulan as alpha-(1-->4)- and alpha-(1-->6)-glucan are discussed in terms of similarities with amylose and dextran structures, and an emphasis is made on the inherent biological activity of pullulan molecules. The author also attempts to summarize the concepts, options, and strategies in chemical modification of the biopolymer and to delineate future prospects in designing new biologically active derivatives.

Axial dispersion of the liquid phase on a three-phase Karr reciprocating plate column

The influence of the gas flow rate and vibration intensity in the presence of the solid phase (polypropylene spheres) on axial mixing of the liquid phase in a three phase (gas-liquid-solid) Karr reciprocating plate column (RPC) was investigated. Assuming that the dispersionmodel of liquid flow could be used for the real situation inside the column, the dispersion coefficient of the liquid phase was determined as a function of different operating parameters. For a two-phase liquid-solid RPC the following correlation was derived: DL = 1.26(Af)1.42 UL 0.51 ?S 0.23 and a similar equation could be applied with ? 30 % confidence for the calculation of axial dispersion in the case of a three-phase RPC: DL = 1.39(Af)0.47 UL0.42UG0.03 ?S -0.26.