SOLUTION OF HOLLOW-FIBER BIOREACTOR DESIGN EQUATIONS FOR ZERO-ORDER LIMIT OF MICHAELIS-MENTEN KINETICS

The mass balance equations for hollow fibre bioreactors have been solv ed for the zero-order limit of the Michaelis-Menten kinetics. As in th e case of first-order reactions, the membrane and spongy matrix equati ons can be decoupled from the overall set of equations. For the case o f the substrate remaining constant everywhere in the reactor a solutio n in terms of hypergeometric series is possible. For the substrate exh austion case the extinction radius is a non-linear function of the sys tem parameters and thus the equations have to be solved by numerical m ethods.