Aerobic bioprocesses are highly dependent upon the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) from sparged to dissolved gas. The relatively low solubility of oxygen, however, makes the choice of mixer impeller configuration a critical design factor for the bioreactor vessel. This article describes a series of experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to detail the effect of mixer configuration on the efficiency and effectiveness of a bioreactor vessel with respect to blend time and mass transfer.
