Resumen

BUITRAGO H., Gustavo; OTALVARO A., Ángela M  y  DUARTE B., Paola G.. Evaluation of oxygen transfer in a conventional bioreactor with external aerator. Rev. colomb. biotecnol [online]. 2013, vol.15, n.2, pp.106-114. ISSN 0123-3475.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rev.colomb.biote.v15n2.41272.

In aerobic microorganism culture, it has been observed that conventional bioreactors lead to disadvantages associated with oxygen limitation. To solve this problem it was designed, built and tested a bioreactor prototype with external aerator. This system allowed increasing the speed of oxygen transfer from gas phase to liquid phase, overcoming the limitation of oxygen. However, this new configuration doesn't have theoretical or empirical models to predict the oxygen transfer by calculating the global volumetric coefficient of transfer of oxygen (K_La). In that way, this paper proposed the use of dimensional analysis (Buckingham's Pi Theorem), as a tool to evaluate the effect of various operating variables, fluid properties and geometrical dimensions involved in the process over K_La. After developing the proposed analysis, we found a correlation of 0.89 between the values generated by the model and the available experimental data. It was found that the main variables which affect the coefficient K_La are: the medium flow flowing through the external aerator called recirculation flow, the pressure in the external aerator, and the stirring speed.

Palabras clave : external aerator; oxygen transfer coefficient (KLa); Buckingham's Pi Theorem.

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