Abstract
Since the first development of the airlift fermenter by Le Francois in 1955 (1), the applications have increased to cover most areas of fermentation. This configuration has likewise been developed into many different forms, including: (a) Concentric tube airlift (2); (b) external loop airlift (3); (c) jet loop reactor (4); and (d) propeller loop reactor (4).
The subject for discussion in this paper will be the concentric tube airlift, as shown in Fig. (1). This consists of a vertical cylindrical vessel incorporating a concentric draught tube into which is injected a flow of air or other gas mixture suitable for oxygenation. The resulting reduction in bulk density in the central riser causes the contents to move upward thus displacing the contents of the surrounding downcomer, which moves downward, thus inducing circulation of the total contents. This has the advantage of generating liquid mixing and gas transfer without the use of mechanical agitators.
The number of possible applications for the airlift fermenter has increased with the advent of genetic engineering techniques that result in new strains of unicellular organisms capable of producing many novel products. An almost universal requirement is the maintenance of absolute sterility, and the absence of agitation with associated shaft seals may be of benefit here. A typical property of some novel organisms is the sensitivity to shear stress of either the product (often a large, easily denatured protein) or the cells themselves, in which there may be an absence of a thick protective cell wall. The airlift fermenter should therefore be of use in these applications.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Le Francois, L. Mariller, L. G., and Mejane, J. V. (1955), French Patent no. 1, 102–200.
Sinclair, C. G., and Ryder, D. N. (1975),Biotechnol. Bioeng. 17, 375.
Lin, C. H., Fang, B. S., Wu, C. S., Fang, U. Y., Kuo, T. F., and Hu, K. C. Y. (1976)Biotechnol. Bioeng. 18, 1557.
Blenke, H. (1979)Advances in Biochemical Engineering vol. 13. (Ghore, T. K., Fiechter, A., and Blakeborough, N., ed.), Springer Verlag, Berlin.
Bello, R. A., Robinson, C. W., and Moo-Young, M. (1984), inAdvances in Biotechnology, vol. I, p. 547.
Coulson, J. M., and Richardson, J. F. (1965), inChemical Engineering, vol. I, Pergamon, London, p. 1970.
Pirt, S. J. (1975),Principles of Microbe and Cell Cultivation, Blackwell Scientific, London.
Cooper, C. M., Fernstrom, G. A., and Miller, S. A. (1944),Ind. Eng. Chem. 36, 504.
Slater, L. E. (1974),Food Eng. July, 68.
Kohler, G., and Milstein, C. (1975),Nature (London)256, 495.
Mach, J-P., Bucheggar, F., Farni, M., Ritschard, J., Berche, C., Lumbroso, J-D., Schreyer, M., Giradet, C., Accola, R., and Carrel, S. (1981),Immunol. Today, December, 239.
Hill, C. R., Birch, J. R., and Benton, C. (1984) inBioactive Microbial Products III-Downstream Processing Special Publication of the Society for General Microbiology. Academic, London.
Marx, J. L. (1982),Science,216.
Augenstein, D. C., Sinskey, A. J., and Wang, D. C. (1971),Biotech. Bioeng. 13, 409.
Midler, M., and Finn, R. K. (1966)Biotech. Bioeng. 8, 71.
Fazekas de St. Groth, S. (1983),J. Immunol. Methods 57, 121.
Boraston, R., Thompson, P. W., Garland, S., and Birch, J. R. (1983)Dev. Biol. Stand. 55, 103.
Sacks, S. H., and Lennox, E. S. (1981),Vox Sanguinic 40, 99.
Donaldson, T. L., Boonstra, E. F., and Hammond, J. M. (1980),J. Colloid. Interface. Sci. 74, 2, 441.
Virkar, P. D., Narendranatham, T. J., Hoare, M., and Dunmill, P. (1981),Biotech. Bioeng. 23, 425.
Birch, J. R., Lambert, K., Boraston, R., Thompson, P. W., Garland, S., and Kenney, A. (1985),Proceedings of the Nato Advanced Studies Institute. Plenum, In press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wood, L.A., Thompson, P.W. Applications of the Air Lift Fermenter. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 15, 131–143 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02801314
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02801314