Search the digital library catalog

Abstract: This article describes experimental determination of the relative impact of significant process parameters that influence volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa) using Taguchi design methodology. For this purpose an automated RC1 reaction calorimeter (Mettler-Toledo), which was originally developed for chemical processes, was modified for the bioprocesses. Simple fermentation using Baker's yeast was studied to illustrate the design procedure. Orthogonal array L25 was selected for the proposed design and ANOVA method was used for recognizing the relative influence of the process parameters. Within the observed range of temperature (?), fermentation media volume (VFM), and yeast mass concentration (?Y), these process parameters were found to be unimportant compared to the volumetric air flow rate (qV,a) and rotational frequency of the stirrer (fm). The qV,a had a substantial effect on the kLa value (89.2 %) and the fm had just a small one (3.6 %), meanwhile the remain fraction to 100 % represents error. The results refer strictly to the selected case study. Anyhow, the proposed procedure shows that application of the Taguchi approach for analyzing the oxygen mass transfer based on the experimental data obtained from a highly-automated laboratory reactor appears to have potential usage in general biopharmaceutical process design.
Keywords: bioprocess parameters, mass transfer, volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient, process parameters, Taguchi method, analysis of variance
Published in DKUM: 31.05.2012; Views: 2551; Downloads: 54
Link to full text