99 Euro Bioreactor Competition 2024

From 11 to 12 July, the Chair of Bioprocess Engineering at TU Dresden and the Netzwerk Bioverfahrenstechnik Dresden e.V. organized the 99 Euro Bioreactor Competition, which has been held annually since 2014. The competition is aimed at students of bioprocess engineering, biotechnology and related disciplines. All registered teams receive 99 euros in advance to design and build a bioreactor. The competition offers participants the opportunity to use their skills and knowledge in bioreaction and process engineering to develop a cost-effective and sustainable method of a specific production process on a limited budget.

© BVT

Seven teams, including TU Dresden, HTW Dresden, HS Mittweida, HS Munich, TU Braunschweig, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and KIT Karlsruhe, consisting of 3-4 students and a supervising teacher competed against each other this year in the laboratories of TUD's ZINT (Center for Integrated Natural Product Technology).

Aim of the experiment and winning teams

© BVT

For this year's competition, all teams designed and built a bioreactor for cultivating the bacterium Bacillus subtilis var. natto. The aim was to achieve the highest production of γ-polyglutamic acid, which is indicated by an increase in the viscosity of the culture broth. After 24 hours of testing in the TUD laboratories, a representative sample was taken from the bioreactor and the optical density and viscosity were determined, the liquid volume used was measured and standardized to this. First place went to the "PVZ-Primaten" team from TU Braunschweig with prize money of 600 euros, second place went to "TorNATTO" from TU Dresden with prize money of 300 euros and third place went to "Die Schaumschläger" from HTW Dresden with prize money of 150 euros. The costs per team for building the reactors and the prize money were covered by sponsors.

Many thanks to all participants and special thanks to the sponsors of the competition:

• SmartLab Solutions GmbH
• Düperthal Sicherheitstechnik GmbH + Co KG
• essentim GmbH
• 2mag AG
• qualitype GmbH
• SPECTARIS - German Industry Association for Optics, Photonics, Analytical and Medical Technology e.V.

Contact for further information:

TU Dresden
Christoph Otto
Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering
Chair of Bioprocess Engineering
E-Mail: christoph.otto@tu-dresden.de