Design methods for tubular fermentation systems.

Methods for the design of tubular fermentation systems are summarized. The first part, on tubular system hydrodynamics, is concerned with the design methods for gas hold-up, pressure drop, drop-size distribution and actual interfacial area, and with non-ideal flow conditions. This being a critical review, only the more important methods have been selected. More recent design methods for the prediction of oxygen transfer coefficients in fermentation systems and methods of determining of true kinetic relations are also reviewed, accounting for the inevitable non-ideality of flow. General rules for system optimization are presented.