The aim of this work was to study how media rheology and bioreactor hydrodynamics would influence fermentation of lignocellulosic and starch-based substrates under pseudoplastic flow conditions. This was investigated using hydrolyzed wheat straw, wheat-based thin stillage and filamentous fungi as inoculum in bubble column, airlift and horizontal hybrid tubular/bubble column (textile bioreactor) bioreactors. The rheological models showed that the consistency index was dependent on biomass growth (R2 0.99) while the flow behavior index depended on biomass growth and suspended solid (R2 0.99). Oxygen transfer rate above 0.356 mmol-O2/L/h was needed for growing fungi with a cube-root growth rate constant of 0.03 g1/3/L1/3/h. At 1.4 VVM aeration the textile bioreactor performed better than others with minimal foaming, yields of 0.22 ± 0.01 g/g and 0.47 ± 0.01 g/g for ethanol and biomass, substrate consumption rate of 0.38 g/L/h. Operating the bioreactors with air-flowrate to cross-sectional area ratio of 8.75 × 10-3 (m3/s/m2) or more led to sustained foaming.
Keywords: Bioreactor hydrodynamics; Foaming; Fungi growth kinetics; Oxygen transfer rate; Rheology model.
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