Competition for the best bioreactor
Researchers from the Technical University of Dresden (Germany) have sent a special challenge to all bioprocess engineering students: How to build a bioreactor with a mini-budget of just € 99. e-nema GmbH is one of the sponsors of this original competition.
A bioreactor, often referred to as a fermenter, is a container in which certain organisms (e.g. nematodes, bacteria, fungi) are cultured under as optimal conditions as possible.
Photos: k-film, Michael Kottmeier
The competition has been running for several years and has produced original designs: old PC cases, cola bottles, a seesaw or an inverted bucket decorated with tubes like a Christmas tree. The aim of this year's task is to design a bioreactor for the cultivation of Vibrio natriegens, a marine bacterium with a remarkably fast rate of division.
At e-nema GmbH there are bioreactors of different sizes in which nematodes, fungi and bacteria are cultivated.
More information about the competition