Characterizing the Effect of Volume on Hydrodynamics of Plant Cell Suspensions Using CFD Modeling

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Biochemical Engineering
• Plant Cell Culture

Background:

• Biomass productivities in plant cell cultures are difficult to reproduce in bioreactors due to hydrodynamic changes.
• Shake flask cultures are often used as a benchmark for biomass productivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To understand hydrodynamic changes with volume in shake flask geometries.
• To identify suitable scale-up criteria for plant cell cultivations.
• To minimize cost and time for plant cell cultivation scale-up.

Main Methods:

• Utilized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental cultivations.
• Investigated Viola odorata cell cultivation in increasing flask volumes (100-3000 mL).
• Analyzed volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa) and energy dissipation rates.

Main Results:

• Biomass productivity remained consistent across different flask volumes.
• Volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa) increased initially then decreased with volume.
• Constant shear environment, indicated by power per unit volume saturation, emerged as a potential scale-up parameter.

Conclusions:

• Volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa) may not be a critical scale-up parameter for Viola odorata.
• Maintaining a constant shear environment is proposed as a suitable scale-up criterion.
• Minimizing velocity gradients in bioreactors could improve biomass productivity during scale-up.