Bioreactors and its domain

A bioreactor is a container which is used to hold organisms for the purpose of harnessing their natural biochemical processes, such as fermentation tank for beer, in which certain microorganisms are encouraged to thrive, causing the contents of the tank to ferment and creating a usable end product. In a batch bioreactor, everything is added at once to a controlled and sealed environment, and the biochemical reactions are allowed to run their course before the reactor is opened so that the contents can be extracted and utilized, disposed of, or further processes. Others operate on a continuous flow method, in which materials constantly flow through the bioreactor. Waste treatment plants, for example, utilize continuous flow to process solid waste.

There are numerous types of bioreactors - batch, sequence, continuously stirred tanks, anaerobic contact processes, anaerobic filters, etc.

1. They can be conveniently classified into three major types based on the presence or absence of oxygen and requirement of stirring:

•    Non stirred non aerated bioreactors are used for production of traditional products such as wine,beer, cheese etc.

•        Non stirred aerated reactors are used much rarely.

•    Stirred and aerated reactors are most often used for production of metabolites which require growth of microbes which require oxygen. Most of the newer methods are based on this type of bioreactors.

2. Based on mode of operation, the bioreactors can be classified into three types:

•        Batch reactors

•        Fed batch

•        Continuous e.g.: chemo stat

3. Based on the method of growing of microbes, bioreactors can be either:

•        Suspended

•        Immobilized

The Petri dish is the simplest immobilized bioreactor. The large scale immobilized bioreactors are used for commercial manufacturing of metabolites. They include:

•        Moving bed

•        Fibrous bed

•        Packed bed

•        Membrane

Anilarani, is a proficient professor specialized in biotechnologies and its various branches. She conducts seminars for that students and professionals about the benefits of bioreactor technology. This technology is widely used for its prophecy to reduce the time required for the decomposition of waste. As a result of the accelerated decomposition of the waste in a bioreactor, the production of bio gas also occurs within a shorter period of time. Although the quantity of gas produced in a bioreactor is theoretically comparable to the amount produced at a landfill, its generation over a much shorter period of time makes green energy production a viable environmental and commercial pursuit.