CBB 40104 Bioplant Design Project 2

Exercise 2 (using superPro software)

Problem Statement:
Understanding cell growth rates and the effects of environmental conditions of growth is a key
aspect of biological engineering. The most common and versatile method of cell growth analysis
used throughout industry is batch fermentation in a bioreactor. The fermentation bioreactor
enables cell growth to take place under well-defined operating conditions. Below is a typical
overall of fermentation reaction.

100 Media

70 Oxygen

28 Biomass + 70 Carbon Dioxide + 10 Impurity + 2 MAB

60 Water

All of the feed streams enter the reactor at STP. 7800 kg of water is fed to the reactor at a
flowrate of 100 L/min with a setup time of 5 minutes. 380 kg media is also fed to the reactor at a
flowrate of 10 kg/min with a setup time of 20 minutes.
This fermentation cycle occurs at a temperature of 37oC with a constant heat rate of 0.5oC/min.
The calculated reaction rate refers to biomass formation (dX/dt) since biomass was selected as
the Rate Reference Component with a max of 0.2 h-1. Media is the only substrate with a Ks
value of 35 mg/L. The reaction is first order in biomass and has an enthalpy of -3697 kcal/kg at
an oxygen reference temperature of 37oC. The product will be cooled to 5oC using glycol, which
has a cooling rate of 0.5oC/min and will be transferred out of the fermentor in a process time of
272 minutes. Determine the amount of time required to completely consume the reaction
components and what is the limiting reactant for this system.