Simulating Manufacturing Scale Aerobic Fermentation in Pressurized Miniature Bioreactors

Members: Checkerspot and University of California, Davis

Project dates: 2021 – 2024

Effective fermentation scale-up is one of the key components of success for bioindustrial manufacturing. Developing new tools to predict performance of fermentation processes at a larger scale can help companies save significant time and capital. Through this project, members evaluated the suitability of the H.E.L. BioXplorer 400P bioreactor system for simulating scaled-up fermentation bioprocess conditions.  

The BioXplorer 400P system is designed to mimic the over-pressure conditions in aerobic, high cell density fermentations and generate correlative data to traditional bench, pilot, and demo-scale fermenters. Checkerspot and its partners carried out fermentations at seven different volumes (up to 400 Liters) using two different processes to gather correlative data across the key metrics. The results showed that the BioXplorer 400P system is useful for predictive process development when the fermentation does not require a higher oxygen transfer rate, and identified limitations of the system. 

Funding source: U.S. Department of Defense