Scale-up of microbial processes: Impacts, tools and open questions

Industrial biotechnological production is developing rapidly worldwide. Consequently, more and novel bioprocesses need to perform optimally not only in small lab- but also in large production scales. This article shortly reviews typical impacts found when cells are exposed to micro environmental heterogeneities typically occurring in poorly mixed large scale production reactors. The current state-of-the-art of tool development is presented for analyzing these phenomena. Finally, still open questions are formulated and needs for future research are outlined to further support the expansion of biotech industries by successful research results.

► Current overview of the state-of-the art of scale-up impacts, approaches and tools is given.
► Scale-up insights are described based on own industrial expertise.
► To do's are formulated outlining the need to deduce biologically driven novel scale-up criteria.