Impact of Bioreactor Geometry on K_La Coefficient

摘要

K_La, also known as the oxygen mass transfer coefficient, describes the efficiency at which oxygen is transferred into a bioreactor. The goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of geometry of the tank on K_La by testing three different shapes-inverted truncated cone, cylindrical, and rectangular reactors-while using an equal volume of water. Dissolved oxygen concentrations (DO) were chemically lowered by adding sodium sulfite and cobalt chloride to tap water and monitored as the water was reoxygenated with an air pump. The K_La and C_∞ values were calculated using a non-linear regression program developed by Naik and Stenstrom. Observationally, the inverted truncated cone had the highest K_La values with an average of 2.62 h~(-1), while the rectangular tank had the lowest values at an average of 2.01 h~(-1) A least significant difference (LSD) analysis showed significant differences between all containers' K_La values (at a = 0.05). However, a Tukey's test showed significant differences only between the inverted truncated cone and rectangular tank.