Study on mixing characteristics in shaken microwell systems

Black glucose-releasing silicon elastomer rings for fed-batch operation allow measurement of the oxygen transfer rate from the top and optical signals from the bottom for each well of a microtiter plate

BACKGROUND

In industrial microbial biotechnology, fed-batch processes are frequently used to avoid undesirable biological phenomena, such as substrate inhibition or overflow metabolism. For targeted process development, fed-batch options for small scale and high throughput are needed. One commercially available fed-batch fermentation system is the FeedPlate^®, a microtiter plate (MTP) with a polymer-based controlled release system. Despite standardisation and easy incorporation into existing MTP handling systems, FeedPlates^® cannot be used with online monitoring systems that measure optically through the transparent bottom of the plate. One such system that is broadly used in biotechnological laboratories, is the commercial BioLector. To allow for BioLector measurements, while applying the polymer-based feeding technology, positioning of polymer rings instead of polymer disks at the bottom of the well has been proposed. This strategy has a drawback: measurement requires an adjustment of the software settings of the BioLector device. This adjustment modifies the measuring position relative to the wells, so that the light path is no longer blocked by the polymer ring, but, traverses through the inner hole of the ring. This study aimed at overcoming that obstacle and allowing for measurement of fed-batch cultivations using a commercial BioLector without adjustment of the relative measurement position within each well.

RESULTS

Different polymer ring heights, colours and positions in the wells were investigated for their influence on maximum oxygen transfer capacity, mixing time and scattered light measurement. Several configurations of black polymer rings were identified that allow measurement in an unmodified, commercial BioLector, comparable to wells without rings. Fed-batch experiments with black polymer rings with two model organisms, E. coli and H. polymorpha, were conducted. The identified ring configurations allowed for successful cultivations, measuring the oxygen transfer rate and dissolved oxygen tension, pH, scattered light and fluorescence. Using the obtained online data, glucose release rates of 0.36 to 0.44 mg/h could be determined. They are comparable to formerly published data of the polymer matrix.

CONCLUSION

The final ring configurations allow for measurements of microbial fed-batch cultivations using a commercial BioLector without requiring adjustments of the instrumental measurement setup. Different ring configurations achieve similar glucose release rates. Measurements from above and below the plate are possible and comparable to measurements of wells without polymer rings. This technology enables the generation of a comprehensive process understanding and target-oriented process development for industrial fed-batch processes.

Characterization of hydrodynamics and volumetric power input in microtiter plates for the scale-up of downstream operations

Parameter estimation for scale-up of downstream operations from microtiter plates (MTPs) is mostly done empirically because engineering correlations between microplates and stirred tank reactors (STRs) are not yet available. It is challenging to change the operation mode from shaken MTPs to large-scale STRs. For the scale-up of STRs, volumetric power input is well-established although it is unclear whether this parameter can be used to transfer the operations from MTPs. We determine the volumetric power input in MTPs via the temperature increase caused by the motion of the liquid. The hydrodynamics in MTPs are studied with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Mixing is investigated in 96-, 24-, and 6-well MTPs to cover different geometries, filling volumes, shaking diameters, and shaking frequencies. All CFD simulations are validated by experimental results, which now allows prediction of the volumetric power input and hydrodynamics at various conditions in MTPs without the need for further experiments. We provide a map of the power input achievable in MTPs. Based on this map, from knowing about large-scale conditions, adequate microscale conditions can be adjusted for process development. This enables the direct scale-up of downstream unit operations from MTPs to STRs.

Mixing Performance Analysis of Orbitally Shaken Bioreactors

This study investigated the efficacy of a novel correlation of power input, energy dissipation rate and mixing time as a potential route to identify the orbitally shaken bioreactor (OSB) system. The Buckingham’s π-theorem was used to designate and transform dimensionless Newton numbers with five relevant power input variables. These variables were empirically varied to evaluate the correlation among the dimensionless numbers. The Newton number decreases with the increased shaking frequency and filling volume. Previous work has focused on optimizing the mixing process by evaluating different shaking and agitation mixing methods. We establish a new mixing process and assessable measurement of the mixing time in the OSB. An innovative explanation of mixing time for the thermal method is proposed. The optimal mixing time is independent of the temperature of filled liquid. The dimensionless mixing number remained constant in the turbulent regime and increasing with the increased liquid viscosity and filling volume. Our findings revealed that the observed correlation is a practical tool to figure the power consumption and mixing efficiency as cell cultivation in all OSB scales and is fully validated when scaling–up system.