BIOREACTORS WITH LIGHT-BEADS FLUIDIZED BED: THE VOIDAGE FUNCTION AND ITS EXPRESSION

Light-beads fluidized bed bioreactors with gel particles are an attractive alternative for the implementation of a system with immobilized cells. They have a number of advantages: soft operating conditions, ability to work in an ideal mixing regime, intensification of heat- and mass transfer processes in the fermentation system. The expansion characteristics of the fluidized bed were investigated in the present work. The fluidized bed expansion was described using the voidage function. It was found that the voidage can be described by nonlinear regression relationships and the regression coefficients were a function of the particles parameters.