Bioprocess Engineering and Scale-Up

We connect biological behaviour with reactor conditions and production performance. Our work brings together cell metabolism, fermentation, mixing and light-dependent growth to investigate bioprocess design, prediction and scale-up.

The challenge

Bioprocesses connect biological activity with the physical environment of a reactor. Cell metabolism, nutrient availability, mixing and light exposure can all influence production. These interactions make it difficult to predict how a process will respond to new conditions or behave at a different scale.

We develop models that connect biological and engineering descriptions of these systems. Our work spans cell culture, fermentation and illuminated bioreactors, with the aim of supporting process understanding, design and scale-up.

Our approach

Linking cell metabolism with reactor behaviour

Our multiscale cell-culture framework links reactor-scale dynamics with intracellular metabolic fluxes. It combines a hybrid kinetic model with enzyme-constrained dynamic metabolic flux analysis and uses bootstrapping to estimate uncertainty. A published case study considers antibody production by Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, relating changing culture conditions to predicted metabolic activity.

Resolving mixing and light distribution

At the reactor scale, we couple computational fluid dynamics with reaction and transport models. Work on miniature stirred photobioreactors examines how mixing and light distribution interact with biological growth. This supports analysis of operating conditions while recognising the spatial variation that a well-mixed model may overlook.

Predicting performance across scales

For scale-up, we investigate how hybrid models developed with limited laboratory data can be adapted using pilot-scale information. A yeast-fermentation study tests the resulting predictions at industrial scale and examines how the balance of mechanistic and data-driven detail affects model transfer.

Investigating algae-based carbon capture

We also use biokinetic modelling to investigate algae-based carbon capture. Experimental work with Dunaliella tertiolecta examines how light and temperature influence growth and carbon conversion in a bicarbonate/carbonate medium. This connects biological process understanding with a renewable application.