Hollow Fiber Reactor | BiotechStudies

HOLLOW FIBER REACTOR

Hollow fiber reactor

• Hollow fiber reactor is 3-dimensional system based upon hollow fibers, which are small, semi-permeable capillary membrane arranged in parallel with a typical molecular weight cut off range 10-30 KDa.
• The hollow fibers membrane are often bundled and creat cartridges within the cartridges, inlet and outlet are fitted compartments:- intracapillary space(IC) within the hollow fibers and extracapillary space (EC) surrounding the hollow fibres.
• Cell are seeded into Ec space of hollow fibre reactor and expand there. Cell culture medium is pumped through IC and deliver O2 and nutrients to cell via Hollow fiber membrane perfusion.
• As the cells expand, their waste products and co2 also perfuse the Hollow fiber membrane and carried away by pumping through IC. As waste product build up due to increased cell mass, the rate of medium flow can also increased. So that cell growth is not inhibited by waste product toxicity. Because thousands of hollow fibers may be packed into single hollow fiber bioreactor.
• Application= 

1. With the introduction of hybridoma technology cell culture could be used to generate vaccines.
2. Smaller HFB can be housed in laboratory incubator like cell culture plates and flasks.
3. Recently HFB have been tested as novel plateform for the commercial production of high titer influenza A virus.
4. Hydrolysis of macromolecule
5. Biotransformation of lipid to esters
6. Production of L- alanine from pyruvic acid
7. Synthesis of peptide
8. Blood treatment.
9. use to generate high concentration of cell-derived products including Mabs, recombinant proteins, virus and virus like particle.

• Advantages= 

1. Minimal waste products
2. Removal of toxic is easy.
3. Scale up is simple
4. Multiphase reaction
5. Higher reaction productivity
6. Integration of unit Operation.
7. continuous operation is possible

• Disadvantages= 

1. Deactivation of enzymes by shear effect
2. Product/substrate inhibition at surface
3. Membrane failure
4. High price of membrane
5. Cell concentration maintenance is difficult
6. unfavourable enzyme adsorption.