Oxygen transport and consumption by suspended cells in microgravity: a multiphase analysis.

A rotating bioreactor for the cell/tissue culture should be operated to obtain sufficient nutrient transfer and avoid damage to the culture materials. Thus, the objective of the present study is to determine the appropriate suspension conditions for the bead/cell distribution and evaluate oxygen transport in the rotating wall vessel (RWV) bioreactor. A numerical analysis of the RWV bioreactor is conducted by incorporating the Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase and oxygen transport equations. The bead size and rotating speed are the control variables in the calculations. The present results show that the rotating speed for appropriate suspensions needs to be increased as the size of the bead/cell increases: 10 rpm for 200 microm; 12 rpm for 300 microm; 14 rpm for 400 microm; 18 rpm for 600 microm. As the rotating speed and the bead size increase from 10 rpm/200 microm to 18 rpm/600 microm, the mean oxygen concentration in the 80% midzone of the vessel is increased by approximately 85% after 1-h rotation due to the high convective flow for 18 rpm/600 microm case as compared to 10 rpm/200 microm case. The present results may serve as criteria to set the operating parameters for a RWV bioreactor, such as the size of beads and the rotating speed, according to the growth of cell aggregates. In addition, it might provide a design parameter for an advanced suspension bioreactor for 3-D engineered cell and tissue cultures.