Numerical simulation of scaling-up an inverted frusto-conical shaking bioreactor with low shear stress for mammalian cell suspension culture

Shear stress is one of the key factors affecting the large-scale culture of mammalian cells. In this study, numerical simulation based on computational fluid dynamics was used to conduct a flow-field analysis of 7, 50, 200, and 1200 L inverted frusto-conical shaking bioreactors. The results show that the shear rate, specific mass transfer area (a), and volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa) gradually decreased as the scale of the bioreactor increased. Through application of BHK21 and CHO cells in 7, 200, and 1200 L bioreactors, it was found that the cell density and antibody expression level increased as the volume of the bioreactor increased. Moreover, the antibody expression level in a 1200 L bioreactor was nearly 30% and 35% higher than that of 7 and 200 L bioreactors, respectively. The results demonstrate that the environment with a larger volume is more suitable for the growth and antibody expression of CHO cells, indicating shear stress might be the most critical factor affecting the scale-up of mammalian cells.