Conclusions
1.
The scale-up of the l-PAC production from 100 ml shake flask to 5 l fermenter has been done with KLa as scale-up criteria.
2.
Correlations for the mass transfer coefficients were developed for both the growth and biotransformation media. The respiration rates in shake flasks were used to estimate the mass transfer coefficient in the fermenter. These mass transfer rates were used in fixing the operating parameters like impeller speed and air flow rates. This led to high production rates in a fermenter as compared to shake flask indicating the role of hydrodynamic parameters such as mixing and suspension on the efficiency of the fermentation.
3.
An optimum reaction time exists for the production of l-PAC in both the shake flask and 5 l bioreactor which is around 120 min and more product formation was observed in the bioreactor.