Oxygen Transfer Rate Coefficient of Membrane Aeration Bioreactor for Vero Cell Culture

Oxygen is a key substrate in animal cell metabolism and its consumption is thus a parameter of great interest for monitoring and control in animal cell culture bioreactor. The use of a gas-permeable membrane offered the possibility to provide the required quantity of oxygen into the culture. while avoiding problems of foaming or shear damage generally linked to sparging. For determining the optimum DO control strategy of this gas-permeable membrane aeration bioreactor, the oxygen transfer rate coefficient was measured with varying $N_2$ ratio in inlet air. The results showed that an increasing mass flow rate of nitrogen reduced the $K_La$ value. and 5% nitrogen in air did not result in any oxygen limitation.