Class
Article
College
College of Engineering
Department
English Department
Faculty Mentor
Jixun Zhan
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
ThermoFisher Scientific, through the lead of Jason Brown, has commissioned a design team at Utah State University (USU) to create a mechanical foam breaker capable of being used in a single use bioreactor setup. The goal of this design team was to find mechanical methods of foam breaking for reactors of 30 L volume and 300 L volume to reduce the need for chemical antifoam agents which, in concentrations higher than 1% total volume, can lead to higher optical densities and lower protein yield (Routledge, 2012). Initial designs include a rotating mechanical cone (derived from ThermoFisher), a wire bristle apparatus, a wire cone, and a spinning blade. After meeting constraints and testing in the 30L bioreactor, the rotating cone was shown to be the most effective out of the mechanical foam breaking methods, showing a 50% decrease in foam height. This decrease was confirmed by scale up testing in the 300L bioreactor. The reduction of foam height using the cone was consistently around 2 inches regardless of bioreactor size. However, the spinning blade, yet to be tested, is expected to exceed the mechanical cone in its foam breaking ability. Further work is being done to not only optimize the overall best design for foam reduction capabilities, but also improve the sterility, manufacturability, and shippability of the design.
Location
Logan, UT
Start Date
4-7-2022 12:00 AM
Included in
Mechanical Methods for Bioreactor Foam Breaking
Logan, UT
ThermoFisher Scientific, through the lead of Jason Brown, has commissioned a design team at Utah State University (USU) to create a mechanical foam breaker capable of being used in a single use bioreactor setup. The goal of this design team was to find mechanical methods of foam breaking for reactors of 30 L volume and 300 L volume to reduce the need for chemical antifoam agents which, in concentrations higher than 1% total volume, can lead to higher optical densities and lower protein yield (Routledge, 2012). Initial designs include a rotating mechanical cone (derived from ThermoFisher), a wire bristle apparatus, a wire cone, and a spinning blade. After meeting constraints and testing in the 30L bioreactor, the rotating cone was shown to be the most effective out of the mechanical foam breaking methods, showing a 50% decrease in foam height. This decrease was confirmed by scale up testing in the 300L bioreactor. The reduction of foam height using the cone was consistently around 2 inches regardless of bioreactor size. However, the spinning blade, yet to be tested, is expected to exceed the mechanical cone in its foam breaking ability. Further work is being done to not only optimize the overall best design for foam reduction capabilities, but also improve the sterility, manufacturability, and shippability of the design.