Mass Transfer Limitations (mass + transfer_limitation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol using active carbon: performance of discontinuous and continuous reactors

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 7 2001
Frank Stüber
Abstract Catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of an aqueous phenol solution using active carbon (AC) as catalytic material was compared for a slurry and trickle bed reactor. Semi-batchwise experiments were carried out in a slurry reactor in the absence of external and internal mass transfer. Trickle-bed runs were conducted under the same conditions of temperature and pressure. Experimental results from the slurry reactor study showed that the phenol removal rate significantly increased with temperature and phenol concentration, whereas partial oxygen pressure had little effect. Thus, at conditions of 160,°C and 0.71,MPa of oxygen partial pressure, almost complete phenol elimination was achieved within 2,h for an initial phenol concentration of 2.5,g,dm,3. Under the same conditions of temperature and pressure, the slurry reactor performed at much higher initial rates with respect to phenol removal than the trickle bed reactor, both for a fresh active carbon and an aged active carbon, previously used for 50,h in the trickle bed reactor, but mineralisation was found to be much lower in the slurry reactor. Mass transfer limitations, ineffective catalyst wetting or preferential flow in the trickle bed alone cannot explain the drastic difference in the phenol removal rate. It is likely that the slurry system also greatly favours the formation of condensation polymers followed by their irreversible adsorption onto the AC surface, thereby progressively preventing the phenol molecules to be oxidised. Thus, the application of this type of reactor in CWAO has to be seriously questioned when aiming at complete mineralisation of phenol. Furthermore, any kinetic study of phenol oxidation conducted in a batch slurry reactor may not be useful for the design and scale-up of a continuous trickle bed reactor. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Design and Characterization of a Rotating Bed System Bioreactor for Tissue Engineering Applications

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 1 2008
Fabienne Anton
The main challenge in the development of bioreactors for tissue engineering is the delivery of a sufficient nutrient and oxygen supply for cell growth in a 3D environment. Thus, a new rotating bed system bioreactor for tissue engineering applications was developed. The system consists of a culture vessel as well as an integrated rotating bed of special porous ceramic discs and a process control unit connected with the reactor to ensure optimal culturing conditions. The aim of the project was the design and construction of a fully equipped rotating bed reactor, and in particular, the characterization and optimization of the system with regard to technical parameters such as mixing time and pH-control to guarantee optimal conditions for cell growth and differentiation. Furthermore, the applicability of the developed system was demonstrated by cultivation of osteoblast precursor cells. The porous structure of the ceramic discs and the external medium circulation loop provide an optimal environment for tissue generation in long-term cultivations. Mass transfer limitations were minimized by the slow rotation, which also provides the cells with sufficient nutrients and oxygen through alternate contact to air and medium. An osteoblast precursor cell line was successfully cultivated in this bioreactor for 28 days. [source]


WATER MOTION, MARINE MACROALGAL PHYSIOLOGY, AND PRODUCTION

JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
Catriona L. Hurd
Water motion is a key determinant of marine macroalgal production, influencing directly or indirectly physiological rates and community structure. Our understanding of how marine macroalgae interact with their hydrodynamic environment has increased substantially over the past 20 years, due to the application of tools such as flow visualization to aquatic vegetation, and in situ measurements of seawater velocity and turbulence. This review considers how the hydrodynamic environment in which macroalgae grow influences their ability to acquire essential resources and how macroalgae might respond physiologically to fluctuations in their hydrodynamic regime with a focus on: (1) the biochemical processes occurring within the diffusion boundary layer (DBL) that might reduce rates of macroalgal production; (2) time scales over which measurements of velocity and DBL processes should be made, discussing the likelihood of in situ mass transfer limitation; (3) if and how macroalgal morphology influences resource acquisition in slow flows; and (4) ecobiomechanics and how hydrodynamic drag might influence resource acquisition and allocation. Finally, the concept that macroalgal production is enhanced in wave-exposed versus sheltered habitats is discussed. [source]


Simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation of paper sludge to ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae RWB222.

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 5 2009
Part II: Investigation of discrepancies between predicted, observed performance at high solids concentration
Abstract The simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) kinetic model described in the companion paper can predict batch and fed batch fermentations well at solids concentrations up to 62.4,g/L cellulose paper sludge but not in batch fermentation at 82.0,g/L cellulose paper sludge. Four hypotheses for the discrepancy between observation and model prediction at high solids concentration were examined: ethanol inhibition, enzyme deactivation, inhibition by non-metabolizable compounds present in paper sludge, and mass transfer limitation. The results show that mass transfer limitation was responsible for the discrepancy between model and experimental data. The model can predict the value of high paper sludge SSCF in the fermentation period with no mass transfer limitation. The model predicted that maximum ethanol production of fed-batch fermentation was achieved when it was run as close to batch mode as possible with the initial solids loading below the mass transfer limitation threshold. A method for measuring final enzyme activity at the end of fermentation was also developed in this study. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009; 104: 932,938. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Growth inhibition of dinoflagellate algae in shake flasks: Not due to shear this time!

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 1 2010
Weiwei Hu
Abstract Large scale algae cultures present interesting challenges in that they exhibit characteristics of typical bacterial and animal cell cultures. One current commercial food additive, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is produced using the dinoflagellate algae, Crypthecodiniumcohnii. Like animal cell culture, the perceived sensitivity of algae culture to hydrodynamic forces has potentially limited the agitation and aeration applied to these systems. However, the high density cultivation of C. cohnii required for an economically feasible process inevitably results in high oxygen demand. In this study, we demonstrated what first appeared to be a problem with shear sensitivity in shake flasks is most probably a mass transfer limitation. We subsequently demonstrated the limit of chronic and rapid energy dissipation rate, EDR, that C. cohnii cells can experience. This limit was determined using a microfluidic device connected in a recirculation loop to a stirred tank bioreactor, which has been previously used to repeatedly expose animal cells to high levels of EDR. Inhibition of cell growth was observed when C. cohnii cells were subjected to an EDR of 5.9 × 106 W/m3 with an average frequency of 0.2/min or more. This level of EDR is sufficiently high that C. cohnii can withstand typically encountered hydrodynamic forces in bioprocesses. This result suggests that at least one dinoflagellate algae, C. cohnii, is quite robust with respect to hydrodynamic forces and the scale-up of process using this type of algae should be more concerned with providing sufficient gas transfer given the relatively high oxygen demand. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010 [source]


Effects of ionic strength on lysozyme uptake rates in cation exchangers.

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 2 2005
I: Uptake in SP Sepharose FF
Fluorescence scanning confocal microscopy was used in parallel with batch uptake and breakthrough measurements of transport rates to study the effect of ionic strength on the uptake of lysozyme into SP Sepharose FF. In all cases the adsorption isotherms were near-rectangular. As described previously, the intraparticle profiles changed from slow-moving self-sharpening fronts at low salt concentration, to fast-moving diffuse profiles at high salt concentration, and batch uptake rates correspondingly increased with increasing salt concentration. Shrinking core and homogeneous diffusion frameworks were used successfully to obtain effective diffusivities for the low salt and high salt conditions, respectively. The prediction of column breakthrough was generally good using these frameworks, except for low-salt uptake results. In those cases, the compressibility of the stationary phase coupled with the shrinking core behavior appears to reduce the mass transfer rates at particle-particle contacts, leading to shallower breakthrough curves. In contrast, the fast uptake rates at high ionic strength appear to reduce the importance of mass transfer limitations at the particle contacts, but the confocal results do show a flow rate dependence on the uptake profiles, suggesting that external mass transfer becomes more limiting at high ionic strength. These results show that the complexity of behavior observable at the microscopic scale is directly manifested at the column scale and provides a phenomenological basis to interpret and predict column breakthrough. In addition, the results provide heuristics for the optimization of chromatographic conditions. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Comparison of quasisteady-state performance of the DEAMOX process under intermittent and continuous feeding and different nitrogen loading rates

BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 7 2007
Sergey Kalyuzhnyi Professor
Abstract The recently developed denitrifying ammonium oxidation (DEAMOX) process combines the anammox reaction with autotrophic denitrifying conditions using sulfide as an electron donor for the production of nitrite from nitrate within an anaerobic biofilm. This paper compares a quasisteady-state performance of this process for treatment of baker's yeast wastewater under intermittent and continuous feeding and increasing nitrogen loading rate (NLR) from 300 till 858 mg N/L/d. The average total nitrogen removal slightly decreased on increasing the NLR: from 86 to 79% (intermittent feeding) and from 87 to 84% (continuous feeding). The better performance under continuous feeding was due to a more complete nitrate removal in the former case whereas the ammonia removal was similar for both feeding regimes under the comparable NLR. A possible explanation can be that, during continuous feeding (simultaneous supply of nitrate and sulfide), there were less mass transfer limitations for sulfide oxidizing denitrifiers presumably located in the outer layer of sludge aggregates. On the contrary, the ammonia oxidisers presumably located inside the aggregates apparently suffered from nitrite mass transfer limitations under both the feedings. The paper further describes some characteristics of the DEAMOX sludge. [source]


Effect of Elicitation on Growth, Respiration, and Nutrient Uptake of Root and Cell Suspension Cultures of Hyoscyamusmuticus

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2002
Edgard B. Carvalho
The elicitation of Hyoscyamus muticus root and cell suspension cultures by fungal elicitor from Rhizoctonia solani causes dramatic changes in respiration, nutrient yields, and growth. Cells and mature root tissues have similar specific oxygen uptake rates (SOUR) before and after the onset of the elicitation process. Cell suspension SOUR were 11 and 18 ,mol O2/g FW·h for non-elicited control and elicited cultures, respectively. Mature root SOUR were 11 and 24 ,mol O2/g FW·h for control and elicited tissue, respectively. Tissue growth is significantly reduced upon the addition of elicitor to these cultures. Inorganic yield remains fairly constant, whereas yield on sugar is reduced from 0.532 to 0.352 g dry biomass per g sugar for roots and 0.614 to 0.440 g dry biomass per g sugar for cells. This reduction in yield results from increased energy requirements for the defense response. Growth reduction is reflected in a reduction in root meristem (tip) SOUR, which decreased from 189 to 70 ,mol O2/g FW·h upon elicitation. Therefore, despite the increase in total respiration, the maximum local oxygen fluxes are reduced as a result of the reduction in metabolic activity at the meristem. This distribution of oxygen uptake throughout the mature tissue could reduce mass transfer requirements during elicited production. However, this was not found to be the case for sesquiterpene elicitation, where production of lubimin and solavetivone were found to increase linearly up to oxygen partial pressures of 40% O2 in air. SOUR is shown to similarly increase in both bubble column and tubular reactors despite severe mass transfer limitations, suggesting the possibility of metabolically induced increases in tissue convective transport during elicitation. [source]


Stochastic Modeling of Affinity Adsorption

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 3 2001
John Hubble
A stochastic model is described that allows surface proximity and packing effects to be incorporated into predictions of adsorption kinetics and equilibrium of affinity adsorption. Equilibrium predictions show that, depending on conditions chosen, the results obtained for equilibrium conditions can exhibit either a Freundlich- or a Langmuir-type relationship. Under conditions of surface density imposed adsorption constraints, the time taken for equilibrium to be reached increases as the "off" constant is decreased. This suggests that for resins having a high immobilized ligand density binding kinetics may be more highly limited by the "off" constant than by mass transfer limitations. [source]


Mischen und organische Reaktionen in der chemischen Industrie,

CHEMIE-INGENIEUR-TECHNIK (CIT), Issue 5 2004
T. Bayer Dr.
Abstract Mischvorgänge sind eine der wichtigsten Grundoperationen in der chemischen Industrie. Neben normalen Rührkesseln werden oft auch statische Mischer verwendet. Seit einigen Jahren erfreut sich aber auch die Mikrotechnik einer wachsenden Aufmerksamkeit in der Prozessentwicklung. Sie wird , insbesondere in der chemischen Verfahrenstechnik , zu einem wertvollen Werkzeug für Forschung und Entwicklung. Dabei wird die Mikroreaktionstechnik sowohl für die Entwicklung neuer Prozesse als auch bei der Optimierung existierender Verfahren angewandt. Mikrostrukturierte Mischer und Wärmeübertrager werden eingesetzt, um das Potenzial von chemischen Reaktionen , ohne Wärme- oder Stofftransportlimitierungen , zu untersuchen und zu optimieren. Auch erste Anwendungen über den Labormaßstab hinaus sind bekannt. Mixing and Organic Reactions in the Chemical Industry Mixing is one of the most important unit operations in the chemical industry. In addition to classical mixed vessels, static mixers are often used too. However, for several years now, micro technology is becoming more and more common practice in process development. Especially in chemical engineering micro technology becomes a very valuable tool for research and development. Micro reaction technology is used for the optimization of existing and the development of new processes. Microstructured mixer and heat exchangers are used to overcome heat and mass transfer limitations to show the potential of a chemical reaction. First examples for the application of micro technology beyond the laboratory scale are already know. [source]