Bioreactors are very used in many of the biotechnology processes, we

have diferents types of bioreactors everyone with their own advantages

and disadvantages wich Im going to talk about here.
A bioreactor is a vessel, wich is used to carry out one or more biochemical
reactions to convert raw materials to productos through the action of
biocatalyst, enzyme microorganisms, cells of animals or plants. The raw
material could be an organic compound as sugar or an inorganic chemical
as CO2.
-Stirred tank reactor.
Advantages
Continuous operation
Good temperature control
Easily adapts to two phase runs
Good control
Simplicity of construction
Low operating (labor) cost
Easy to clean

Disadvantages
The need for shaft seals and bearings.
Size limitation by motor size, shaft length and weight.
-Airlif reactor.
Advantages:
Simple design with no moving parts or agitator for less maintenance, less
risk of defects.
Easier sterilization (no agitator shaft parts)
Low Energy requirement vs stirred tank : Obviously doesnt need the
energy for the moving parts (agitator shaft).

Greater heat-removal vs stirred tank: At the Airlift bioreactor it doesnt

need the heat plate to control the temperature, because the Draught-Tube
which is inside the bioreactor can be designed to serve as internal heat
exchanger. It is difference to the Stirred tank bioreactor that needs the
heat coat or plate surrounding the tank to make warm bioreactor. It is
clear enough that the Airlift bioreactor has greater heat-removal compare
to Stirred tank.
Very low cost

Disadvantages:
Greater air throughput and higher pressures needed : The agitation on the
Airlift bioreactor is controlled by the supply air. To adjust the supply air
then the higher pressure needed. And if the higher pressure of air needed
then more energy consumption needed. And more cost must pay.
Inefficient break the foam when foaming occurs : Because there is no
blades/shaft as a foam breaker compare with the stirred tank that has it at
the surface.
NO bubbles breaker : There are no blades that used as a breaker the
bubbles which produced from the air supply (sparger)
-Fluized bed reactor (FBR).
Advantages:
Uniform Particle Mixing: Due to the intrinsic fluid-like behavior of the solid
material, fluidized beds do not experience poor mixing as in packed beds.
This complete mixing allows for a uniform product that can often be hard
to achieve in other reactor designs. The elimination of radial and axial
concentration gradients also allows for better fluid-solid contact, which is
essential for reaction efficiency and quality.
Uniform Temperature Gradients: Many chemical reactions require the
addition or removal of heat. Local hot or cold spots within the reaction
bed, often a problem in packed beds, are avoided in a fluidized situation
such as an FBR. In other reactor types, these local temperature
differences, especially hotspots, can result in product degradation. Thus
FBRs are well suited to exothermic reactions. Researchers have also

learned that the bed-to-surface heat transfer coefficients for FBRs are
high.
Ability to Operate Reactor in Continuous State: The fluidized bed nature of
these reactors allows for the ability to continuously withdraw product and
introduce new reactants into the reaction vessel. Operating at a continuos
process state allows manufacturers to produce their various products
more efficiently due to the removal of startup conditions in batch process.

Disadvantages:
Increased Reactor Vessel Size: Because of the expansion of the bed
materials in the reactor, a larger vessel is often required than that for a
packed bed reactor. This larger vessel means that more must be spent on
initial capital costs.
Pumping Requirements and Pressure Drop: The requirement for the fluid
to suspend the solid material necessitates that a higher fluid velocity is
attained in the reactor. In order to achieve this, more pumping power and
thus
higher
energy
costs
are
needed.
In
addition,
the
pressure drop associated with deep beds also requires additional pumping
power.
Particle Entrainment: The high gas velocities present in this style of
reactor often result in fine particles becoming entrained in the fluid. These
captured particles are then carried out of the reactor with the fluid, where
they must be separated. This can be a very difficult and expensive
problem to address depending on the design and function of the reactor.
This may often continue to be a problem even with other entrainment
reducing technologies.

Lack of Current Understanding: Current understanding of the actual

behavior of the materials in a fluidized bed is rather limited. It is very
difficult to predict and calculate the complex mass and heat flows within
the bed. Due to this lack of understanding, a pilot plant for new processes
is required. Even with pilot plants, the scale-up can be very difficult and
may not reflect what was experienced in the pilot trial.
Erosion of Internal Components: The fluid-like behavior of the fine solid
particles within the bed eventually results in the wear of the reactor
vessel. This can require expensive maintenance and upkeep for the
reaction vessel and pipes.
Pressure Loss Scenarios: If fluidization pressure is suddenly lost, the
surface area of the bed may be suddenly reduced. This can either be an
inconvenience (e.g. making bed restart difficult), or may have more
serious implications, such as runaway reactions (e.g. for exothermic
reactions in which heat transfer is suddenly restricted).
-Packed bed reactor.
Advantages:
Higher conversion per unit mass of catalyst than other catalytic reactors
Low operating cost
Continuous operation
No moving parts to wear out
Catalyst stays in the reactor
Reaction mixture/catalyst separation is easy
Design is simple
Effective at high temperatures and pressures
Disadvantages:
Undesired heat gradients
Poor temperature control
Difficult to clean
Difficult to replace catalyst
Undesirable side reactions
-Photobioreactors
Advantages:
Cultivation of algae is in controlled circumstances, hence potential for
much higher productivity

Large surface-to-volume ratio. PBRs offer maximum efficiency in using

light and therefore greatly improve productivity. Typically the culture
density of algae produced is 10 to 20 times greater than bag culture in
which algaeculture is done in bags and can be even greater.
Better control of gas transfer.
Reduction in evaporation of growth medium.
More uniform temperature.
Better protection from outside contamination.
Space saving Can be mounted vertically, horizontally or at an angle,
indoors or outdoors.
Reduced Fouling Recently available tube self cleaning mechanisms can
dramatically reduce fouling.

Disadvantages
Capital cost is very high. This is one of the most important bottlenecks
that is hindering the progress of algae fuel industry.
Despite higher biomass concentration and better control of culture
parameters, data accumulated in the last two decades have shown that
the productivity and production cost in some enclosed photobioreactor
systems are not much better than those achievable in open-pond cultures.

The technical difficulty in sterilizing these photobioreactors has hindered

their application for algae culture for specific end-products such as high
value pharmaceutical products.
-Rotary drum reactor.
In this, the drum is filled with 40% of its volume and rotated by means of
rollers. It is particularly suitable for the cultivation of the plant cell
cultures.
High oxygen transfer.
Good mixing Facilitated better growth and impart less hydrodynamic
stress

Disadvanteges:
Difficult to scale up.
-Mist bioreactor.
This is suitable for hairy root cultivation of plant cells. Static root mass is
contained in a chamber that is mostly empty. Nutrients are supplied as
mist of fine droplets suspended in circulating air currents that penetrates
the spaces between the roots.

Advantages

High oxygen transfer.

Hydrodinamic stress elimination.
Low production cost.
Disadvantages:
Requires mesh trays and cylindrical stainless steel meshes are requiered
-Fed-Batch reactor.
Advantages
Production of high cell densities due to the extension of working of
working time.
Controlled conditions in the provision of substrates
fermentation, particularly regarding the concentration
substrates as for example the carbon source.

during the
of specific

Control over the production of byproducts or catabolite repression effects

due to limited provision of substrates solely required for product
formation.
Allows the replacement of water loss by evaporation.
Increase of antibiotic marked plasmid stability by providing
correspondent antibiotic during the time span of the fermentation.

the

Disadvantages:
It requires previous analysis of the microorganism, its requirements and
the understanding of its physiology with the productivity.
In a cyclic fed batch culture, care should be taken in the design of the
process to ensure that toxins do not accumulate to inhibitory levels and
that nutrients other than those incorporated into the feed medium
become limiting. Also if many cycles are run, the accumulation of nonproducing or low producing variants may result.