Adventitious roots of Echinacea purpurea were cultured in airlift bioreactors (20 l, 500 l balloon-type, bubble bioreactors and 1,000 l drum-type bubble bioreactor) using Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with 2 mg indole butyric acid l(-1) and 50 g sucrose l(-1) for the production of chichoric acid, chlorogenic acid and caftaric acid. In the 20 l bioreactor (containing 14 l MS medium) a maximum yield of 11 g dry biomass l(-1) was achieved after 60 days. However, the amount of total phenolics (57 mg g(-1) DW), flavonoids (34 mg g(-1) DW) and caffeic acid derivatives (38 mg g(-1) DW) were highest after 50 days. Based on these studies, pilot-scale cultures were established and 3.6 kg and 5.1 kg dry biomass were achieved in the 500 l and 1,000 l bioreactors, respectively. The accumulation of 5 mg chlorogenic acid g(-1) DW, 22 mg chichoric acid g(-1) DW and 4 mg caftaric acids g(-1) DW were achieved with adventitious roots grown in 1,000 l bioreactors.