Patent ID: 7374928

Claim:
Bioreactor for air-lift culture of microorganisms, comprising a housing having longitudinal side walls vertically disposed and a gas inlet disposed such that the gas rises toward the top of the housing; the housing consisting of a first and a second one-piece trough-like base elements of light-permeable material, wherein each of the first and second base element comprises a bottom part, parallel longitudinal side walls and parallel transverse side walls, and wherein the first and second base element are connected to each other and face each other to enclose an inner volume with an inside depth T; and a flow guide for the air-lift flow, constructed in one piece with a base element, comprising equally spaced transversal septa which alternately protrude from the bottom part of the first and second base elements and which are arranged crosswise to the air-lift flow, perpendicular to the longitudinal side walls and parallel to the transverse side walls, wherein the septa have an inside depth T 2 which is smaller than the inside depth T of the bioreactor and having gaps between the end of each septum of the first base element and the bottom part of the opposing second base element and vice-versa, such that the flow cross-section is substantially decreased by said gaps and throttling points are created.