Cultivation of Escherichia coli in a single-use bioreactor concept for recombinant protein production

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Single-use bioreactors are usually applied in the biopharmaceutical industry, mostly for mammalian cell culture processes. For microbial processes, concepts like the CELL-tainer® technology (Celltainer Biotech BV) allow comparable gas-liquid mass transfer rates like in stirred tank reactors. In this reactor concept, the rocking motion of the bag is generated with a combination of a vertical and horizontal movement. Volumetric oxygen transfer rates (kLa) of over 400 h-1 were determined at this reactor concept. Recently, the successful scale-up of an Escherichia coli nutrient-limited fed-batch cultivation from the 15 L to the 150 L scale in the CELL-tainer single-use bioreactor has been conducted. A final biomass concentration of 45 gL-1 within 24 hrs was obtained in cultivations proving the suitability of this type of wave-mixed bioreactor for bacterial applications.