Alongside the cultivation of microorganisms in bioreactors, including sterile technology and process control, students learn how to model and simulate bioprocesses.

Students become acquainted with all the aspects involved in the cultivation of microorganisms. This includes medium production, sterile technology and the development of pre- and main cultures. In addition, the characteristic parameters of bioreactors (such as the kLa-value, mixing time and power input) are measured.

To achieve optimal control of fed-batch bioprocesses, students design substrate feeding strategies for the organisms and test these control strategies experimentally. Several parameters involved in the analysis of cultivation processes (including substrate concentration, analysis of metabolites, cell density/optical density, osmolality, offgas analysis,...) are measured offline or online. This information is used to calculate specific growth rates as well as production and consumption rates.

After cultivation the cells are disintegrated by a high pressure or a supersonic homogenizer to release the intracellular products.