Investigating a Stirred Bioreactor: Impact of Evolving Fermentation Broth Pseudoplastic Rheology on Mixing Mechanisms

Abstract

The culture medium in many fermentations is a non-Newtonian fluid. In bacterial alginate batch production, the broth becomes more pseudoplastic as the alginate concentration increases, which impairs the mixing process. This work characterizes the effect of the interaction between changing broth rheology and impeller mixing on a bioreactor fluid dynamics. Experimentally, a fermentation with evolving broth pseudoplastic rheology is reproduced. Three fermentation stages are mimicked using appropriate solutions of water and xanthan gum. Impeller torque measurements are reported. The weakening of the impellers’ interaction over the fermentation process is identified. To overcome the experimental limitations, CFD is applied to study the evolution of the fermentation fluid flow patterns, velocity field, dead zones, and vortical structures. Precessional vortex macro-instabilities are identified as being responsible for the unstable flow patterns identified at the earlier stages of the fermentation. A stable parallel flow pattern accounts for the weakest impellers’ interaction at the final stage. Overall, this work contributes with a complete workflow to adapt CFD models for characterization and aided design of stirred tanks with changing broth pseudoplastic rheology as well as an evolving flow regime.