Theory 55/Bioprocess Engineering
Scale-Up Fails on a Mixing Ratio
The claim
Bioprocess scale-up failure is set by the ratio of mixing time to reaction time, so a process that works at small scale can fail at large scale at identical conditions.
01The mechanism
Gradients form when mixing is slower than consumption; cells at different locations see different concentrations, and the population average diverges.
02Predictions
- P1Failure should appear above a mixing ratio.
- P2Identical setpoints should not guarantee identical performance.
03Refutation
Performance independent of the ratio would remove the mixing explanation.