Examining the Impact of Microenvironments on Large-Scale Bioreactor Processes*

Large-scale bioreactors play a critical role in enhancing the bioeconomy and advancing biotechnology-related industries. In transitioning from the laboratory- to the industrial-scale, the complexity of these fluid systems increases, making microbial performance harder to predict. Computational fluid dynamics is a vital tool in exploring how the change in dynamics during scale-up affects these bioprocesses. We investigate the formation and impact of microenvironments within bioreactors of increasing size and their influence on microbe cell production. The investigation is based on a multiphase solver we developed within OpenFOAM that couples multi-component transport and reaction processes specific to the organism P. putida, incorporating experimental data through metabolic model parameters. Preliminary studies target microenvironment development within a range of bioreactor sizes and configurations.