Day 4: Goobye, Mr. Bioreactor… For Now.

After having taken the samples at the respective time intervals from the afternoon on Day 3 to the afternoon on Day 4, it was finally time to shut down and clean up the bioreactor. Surely, we cannot expect it to magically clean itself up, can we? We were initially planning to hire “helpers” but being the diligent students as we are (of course!), we decided to rally and work together to clean up the bioreactor instead. 

So before we began dismantling the fermentor, it was important to take the necessary precautions to ensure that there will be no mishaps or problems encountered. With the tutelage and guidance from Mr. Shaman, we were able to follow through in taking apart the bioreactor for cleaning. First, we have to stop any feeding of reagents such as the base and antifoam into the fermentor. Next, reduce the stirring of the agitator and subsequently switching it off after the speed of impeller had been significantly reduced. After which, any remote control from the Iris software is switched off as seen from the panel.

REMOVE ALL THE CONNECTION LINE BETWEEN THE BASE UNIT AND THE VESSEL...

REMOVE THE VESSEL FROM THE BASE UNIT...

Next, the reagent bottle lines were emptied and the reagents that is the base solution and the antifoam were carefully removed from the bioreactor. The reagent lines were then washed and the process of reassembling the whole bioreactor can take place. It should be reminded that the pH and pO2 probes were removed first from the top plate before lifting the entire plate from the fermentor. The vessel was emptied and was rinsed thoroughly.

DISPOSAL THE FERMENTATION CULTURE..

For the disposal of the culture. We just dispose it into the sink because we only use Saccharomyces Cerevisiae,which is wild type and not harmful to the environment.

WASHED ALL THE COMPARTMENT OF THE BIOREACTOR..

AFTER FINISH WASHING...LETS IT DRY..

The parts of the reassembled bioreactor were left to dry before keeping them in storage. And with that, it was time to say goodbye to the bioreactor until next time. After almost a week’s worth of work, it was high time that it deserved a long vacation in storage which probably was not an ideal place for some R&R in the first place. A five-star establishment was not within our budget to begin with. Oh well, Mr. Bioreactor has to make do with what was offered to him.

P.S. A message from Mr. Bioreactor: If anyone is interested in accompanying Mr. Bioreactor on a vacation to an exotic (albeit dark) storage location, sound off in the comments below.