Residence time distribution in a packed bed bioreactor containing porous glass particles: influence of the presence of immobilized cells

An experimental investigation of the liquid phase residence time distribution (RTD) in a packed bed bioreactor containing porous glass particles is presented. For Re < 1, intraparticle forced convection is negligible and only diffusion, characterized by an effective diffusion coefficient, must be considered to describe the mass transfer process between the extraparticle and the intraparticle fluid phase. For Re > 1, the mass transfer rate becomes dependent on the liquid flow rate, indicating the existence of intraparticle convection. A model including axially dispersed flow for the external fluid phase and an 'apparent' effective diffusivity that combines diffusion and convection, predicts experimental RTD data satisfactorily. Yeast cells immobilized inside the porous glass beads did not affect the mass transfer rate at low biomass loading. At high biomass loading (0.02 g yeast cells g-1 carrier), the mass transfer rate between the extraparticle and intraparticle fluid phase was significantly decreased. Comparison of the RTD data from experiments performed in the presence and absence of cells in the external fluid phase revealed that the mass transfer rate is influenced by the cells immobilized inside the porous particles and not by the cells present in the external fluid phase.