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A novel model for the simulation of cell respiration in a mammalian cell culture process in an aerated stirred bioreactor
Date
2025-08-31
Abstract
The cell respiration process of a Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture in a large-scale aerated and stirred bioreactor was modelled and simulated by using M-Star’s LES software. The simulation set-up was first validated with no cells present. The volume-averaged volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) and dissolved O2 (DO, %) plots are in good agreement with experimental data. Then, the cells were added to the simulation hypothetically by defining a reaction that couples the O2 consumption rate to the CO2 production rate. A controller was set on the pure O2 sparger to control the DO in the tank. Some simplifying assumptions were made such that only the CO2 variations as a result of the cell respiration were modelled. The simulations were run on GPUs for almost one month to find how the dissolved O2 and CO2 concentrations evolve with time. The average rates of O2 transfer and consumption as well as of CO2 production and absorption look qualitatively correct and are in good agreement with the limited validation data available. The effect of varying the Viable Cell Density (VCD) was investigated as well. Finally, the local dissolved CO2 concentration data were used to calculate local and averaged partial pressures of CO2 (pCO2) which remained well within the suggested range of 20–80 mmHg reported by Mostafa and Gu (2003) and Xing et al. (2017). Overall, the simulation approach showed great potential in capturing the local heterogeneities in dissolved O2 and CO2 concentrations.
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Description
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Chemical Engineering Research and Design 222, pp. 251–269
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Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
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Type
Article
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/