Precise Control Of Gas Flows Within The BIOSTAT® B-DCU

By Sebastian Ruhl, Diana Hesse, Sönke Rosemann, Ute Husemann

To meet the oxygen demand of cells a stable pO₂ control is an essential part of every cultivation. The objective of this application note is to demonstrate the performance of a new generation of mass flow controllers in the BIOSTAT^® B-DCU bioreactor system. Several comparative cell cultivations were performed.

The BIOSTAT^® B-DCU is a benchtop bioreactor specifically designed for process development and process characterization. It can be operated with UniVessel® Glass 1 L, 2 L, 5 L, 10 L and UniVessel^® SU 2 L bioreactors.
The newly developed intelligent mass flow controllers (MFC) have a flow range ratio of 1:200 with regards to the maximum flow rate and communicate digitally with the control system. This enables a wide flow range per gassing line and a smooth opening and closing of the MFC.