Question

Name two commonly used bioreactors. State the importance of using a bioreactor.

Answer 1

The bioreactor is a vessel which has a controlled metabolite processing environment that can help achieve the maximal growth of microbes.

Complete Answer:
- The cylindrical vessel where biological activity is carried out on a wide scale is the bioreactor. In many biotechnology processes, bioreactors are very widely used. There are various types of bioreactors.
- In a continuous culture system, the recombinant cells may be multiplied in which the used medium is pumped out from one side and fresh medium is inserted from the other to sustain the cells. In bioreactor vessels new biological materials are cultivated using various cells, such as animal cells, or human cells or plant cells.
- Therefore, they are used to conduct biochemical processes for the processing of biological products using fungi, bacteria, mammalian cells or plant cell systems. The term fermentor is used by bioreactors as a synonym.
- The two types of bioreactor used are the simple stirred-tank bioreactor and the sparged stirred-tank bioreactor.

The importance of using a bioreactor are:
- It is possible to process huge quantities of cultures (100-1000 litres).
- It offers ideal conditions needed for the cultivation of desirable goods, such as pH, temperature, oxygen, substrate, etc.

Note: In order to allow the mixing of the reactor contents, a stirred-tank reactor is normally cylindrical or with a bent foundation, and the stirrer enables mixing and the supply of oxygen throughout the bioreactor. Sterile air is ignited through the reactor in the sparged stirred-tank bioreactor.