Bioreactors; Device, Vessel, or Tank That Supports a Biologically Active Environment

 

Bioreactors

Bioreactors are defined as a manufacturing device or vessel in which biological reactions are performed and are used in the production of wide range of biological products. Bioreactors are tanks/vessels in which cells or cell-free enzymes transform raw materials into biochemical products and/or less undesirable by-products. Bioreactors are designed to create a biologically active environment. The system can house organisms or biochemically active substances. It can be used to perform chemical processes.

Bioreactors are cylindrically shaped, and range in different sizes from liters to cubic meters. They are commonly made of stainless steel. It may also refer to a device or system designed to grow cells or tissues in the context of cell culture.

Bioreactors are commonly used to create biofuels. Specifically, algae bioreactors can be used to produce fuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, to generate animal feed, or reduce pollutants such as CO2 and NOx in flue gases of power plants. In the food industry, bioreactors widely used to produce alcoholic beverages, yogurt, vinegar, enzymes, aroma compounds, other lactic beverages, yeast biomass, and pigments, which extends their usefulness to coffee fermentation. They are mainly used for fermentation and are referred to as fermenters.

A fermentor is basically the type of bioreactor, used specifically for fermentation. Bioreactors are also used in industrial processes to produce pharmaceuticals, vaccines, or antibodies. Batch bioreactors are one of the most common types of bioreactor configurations used in the pharma industry. Bioreactor systems can meet the ever-changing needs of all stages of biotechnology and pharmaceutical science and suitable for to produce therapeutics. Bioreactors are often used in the food, medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

Many microorganisms and their natural communities require special environments to grow. In Germany, an automated bioreactor is being developed that can be used to cultivate even those microbes that make very special demands on their environment.