High-Pressure, Parallel Bioreactors for Gas Fermentation

Boost gas substrate availability and reduce costs in your production of biofuel & SAF.

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BioXplorers 400 with Direct and Magnetic Agitation

Biotechnology

High-Pressure, Parallel Bioreactors for Gas Fermentation

Boost gas substrate availability and reduce costs in your production of biofuel & SAF.

Nearly 40 years in business2,500+ systems installed worldwide

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Biotechnology Solutions

BTC-500
Battery Adiabatic Calorimeter 50 mAh – 320 Ah

Rapid Process Development Solutions

Parallel Systems for High-Throughput Innovation

Run up to 8 fermentations in parallel — accelerate screening of strains, substrates, and feeding regimes across multiple conditions.

Powerful Recipe Automation

Design and automate complex feed strategies, pH adjustments, sampling, and more — reproducibility and hands-off testing built in.

Real-Time Data, Faster Decisions

Get instant visibility into gas consumption, acid/base use, and biomass trends — connect performance to real-time process decisions.

Customizable Reactor Configurations

Tailor every BioXplorer system to your exact process — from vessel size to sensor layout — to match real-world or production-scale conditions and workflows.

High-Pressure Operation for Gas Fermentation

Increase gas-liquid mass transfer with reactor vessels rated up to 10 bar — ideal for syngas, methane, CO, CO2, and hydrogen-fed fermentations.

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Challenges Facing Biofuel, SAF, & Syngas Fermentation

Methods like bioethanol fermentation, alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) and biomass-to-liquid (BtL) require the breaking down or gasification of biomass utilizing biological agents to generate compounds of industrial interest. Traditional fermentation methods often struggle with poor gas solubility, limiting microbial activity, and slowing biofuel and SAF production.

Gas Fermentation Applications

Our biotechnology solutions are utilized across diverse industries where precision, safety, and innovation in biological processes are essential.

Renewable PtL Systems

Simulate Power-to-Liquid (PtL) processes for converting renewable electricity and captured carbon dioxide into liquid fuels using advanced gas fermentation bioreactors.

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Industrial Waste Gas Fermentation

Capture and integrate industrial CO, CO₂, and syngas emissions using scalable gas fermentation systems for low-carbon chemical and biofuel production.

CO₂-Based Biomanufacturing Platforms

Develop carbon-negative fermentation processes using CO₂ as the primary feedstock in microbial bioproduction of fuels, bioplastics, and specialty chemicals.

Pilot-Scale Biofuel R&D Testing

Accelerate next-generation biofuel development with modular bioreactors tailored for syngas, CO₂, and hydrogen fermentation pilot studies.

Syngas Fermentation for Bioethanol Production

Optimize syngas-to-ethanol microbial conversion using precise control of gas composition, flow rates, and fermentation parameters.

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Fermentation for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

Advance sustainable aviation fuel R&D with fermentation systems designed for CO₂, H₂, and CO gas mixtures in synthetic fuel development workflows.

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Contact us today to request a quote or learn more about our biotechnology solutions. We’re here to help you find the right solution.

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Benefits of High Pressure in Gas Fermentation

The high pressure BioXplorer unlocks increased gas solubility of feedstocks improving efficiency of biofuel, SAF & syngas fermentations. Increasing microbial productivity for biofuel and SAF production and boosting yields from syngas, H₂ and CO₂-based biomanufacturing.

How high-pressure improves biofuel and SAF gas fermentation

Optimized Mass Transfers

Improved delivery of nutrients and gases boosts cell growth, reaction rates, and product yields—crucial for efficient, scalable bioprocesses.

Reduced Feedstock Costs

Greater efficiency means less raw material is needed, lowering input costs and improving overall process economics.

Faster Fermentation Cycles

Accelerated reaction times increase throughput and reduce time-to-product, enhancing overall productivity.

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Case Study (Garrigues et al., 2019)

Objective: A research group investigating gas fermentation optimization methods wanted to achieve high concentrations of isopropanol using a genetically modified Cupriavidus necator to ferment gaseous feedstocks CO₂ and H₂.

Requirements

Requirements

Utilizing a bench scale, parallel bioreactor (100 – 400 ml), the research group required an automated, safe, and highly configurable system to grow an engineered autotrophic strain, with 4 independent gas feeds, providing the ability to generate a high gas-mass transfer to reach high cell and isopropanol titres (g L^-1) from CO₂. Ensuring safety levels between 2-6% O₂ for efficient metabolism and avoiding explosive conditions was crucial.

Solution

Solution

Gases are notoriously difficult to dissolve into liquid. However, pressurized reactors can improve their solubility, increasing feedstock availability. Additionally, hydrogen is highly explosive in the presence of oxygen, so strict control of these gases was fundamental to achieve isopropanol efficiently and safely. The BioXplorer 400P was equipped with three sets of gas feeds: Air, CO₂ and H₂. A fourth gas feed (N₂) was installed as safety system. Various probes and feeds were integrated to monitor and automatically deliver adjustments to the reactor, providing optimal growth and safety conditions for their continuous fermentation.

Results

Results

Isopropanol was produced at comparable levels to traditional methods using a cheaper and more sustainable source CO₂ and H₂ instead of fructose, decreasing feedstock-derived costs by up to 60%.

Designing a pressurized bioreactor with independent gas feeds significantly improved gas transfer to reach higher biomass and consequently higher isopropanol concentrations of up to 3.5 g L^-1.

L. Garrigues, et al. 2019

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Choose the Right Solution

Compare our flagship models to find the perfect match for your research and testing requirements

Features	BioXplorer 100	BioXplorer 400	BioXplorer 400XL	BioXplorer 400P	BioXplorer 5000P
Type	Low-Volume, Parallel Bioreactor	Small-Scale Parallel Bioreactor	High-Throughput Parallel Bioreactor	High-Pressure, Parallel Bioreactor	High-Pressure, Scale-Up Bioreactor
Best For	Semi-Dynamic Gut Simulation / Fermentation	Aerobic / Anaerobic Fermentation	Aerobic / Anaerobic Fermentation	High-Pressure Gas Fermentation/Chemical Synthesis	High-Pressure Syngas Fermentation and Biocatalysis
Total Volume (mL)	200	500	500	500	5000
Working Volume (mL)	50-150	120-400	120-400	120-400	400-5000
Temperature (°C)	0 – 130°C (dependent on system setup)	0 – 130°C (dependent on system setup)	0 – 130°C (dependent on system setup)	0 – 135°C (dependent on system setup)	0 – 135°C (dependent on system setup)
Stirrer Speed	Magnetic: 250 – 1500 rpm	Magnetic: 250 – 1500, Overhead: 20 – 2000	Magnetic: 250 – 1500, Overhead: 20 – 2000	Magnetic: 250 – 1500, Overhead: 20 – 2000	Overhead: 20 – 2000
Reactor material	Glass body, stainless steel lid	Glass body, stainless steel lid	Glass body, stainless steel lid	Stainless steel	Stainless steel
Pressure Rating	N/A	N/A	N/A	10 bar	10 bar
No. of Reactors	8	4	8	4	1 or more
Standard Sensors/Probes	Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen	Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen	Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen	Temperature, pH	Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen
Standard Feeds	2 liquid, 1 gas	2 liquid, 1 gas	2 liquid, 1 gas	2 liquid, 2 gas	2 liquid, 2 gas
No. Spargers	1	1	1	2	2