Equipment at TUM Pilot Plant for Industrial Biotechnology
The pilot plant comprises a work area of approximately 180 m2 including a cold storage room (4°C / -20°C). A ventilated safety room offers a separate area in order to operate with inflammable gases and volatile substances.
In addition, a media supply room with an area of 30 m2 exists. Media supply comprises process cooling water, purified water, purified steam, and process gases like compressed air, nitrogen, and oxygen. The pilot plant exhibits an autonomous air conditioning system with an air circulation rate of up to 4200 m3/h.
The pilot plant is certified as a biosafety level 1 laboratory and comprises the following in general steam-sterilizable automated research equipment:
- Microbiological safety benches
- Shaking and plate incubators
- Bioreactor with up to 50 L operating volume
- Membrane bioreactor with up to 50 L operating volume
- Bioreactor with up to 1000 L operating volume
- Two mobile Media tanks with 400 L and 600 L operating volume
- Disk separator for liquid/solid separation with a throughput of up to 300 L/h
- Tubular centrifuge for liquid/liquid and liquid/solid separation
- High-pressure homogenizer with a throughput of up to 350 L/h at 1000 bar
- Cross-flow membrane filtration unit with a filtration rate of up to 200 L/h
- Depth filtration unit with 6 m2 filter area
- Pilot-scale chromatography unit with column volumes from 0.1 to 4 L
- Process-scale chromatography unit with column volumes from 2 to 100 L
- Thin-layer evaporator with up to 100 L operating volume
- Vaccum drying cabinet (ATEX)
- Autoclaves with a chamber volume of 160 L each
- Containers for media and buffer solutions with operating volumes of up to 200 L