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Blanc-Labo Fermenters: The Smart Purchase for Your Bioprocesses
Why pay for a Mercedes when a Toyota will do?
We offer the Toyota of fermenters: robust, with all the necessary options, but without the added costs of major brands. Volumes from 0.3 to 50,000 L and 5 advantages:
Optimized Budget: Up to 60% less expensive than leading brands that offer high-quality equipment focused on pharmaceutical constraints.
Short Lead Times: From 2 to 8 months, approximately 6 months faster than our competitors.
European Quality: All our fermenters comply with European standards. All key components are from European or US brands: Siemens S7 PLC, Watson-Marlow pumps, Hamilton sensors, Blue Sens gas analyzers, Vötglin mass flow controller, Sartorius sterile filters, Gemü valves and membranes.
Zero Risk: Our local teams install and maintain your equipment from our bases in Lausanne or Bordeaux. 24-month warranty and insurance provided by Blanc-Labo. Spare parts stocked in Lausanne and Bordeaux.
Open System: Choosing the Siemens S7 environment allows us to create an open system, very easy to upgrade over time at minimal cost, non-proprietary, and which allows the integration of our sensors, actuators, or software from different brands and origins. The software is only paid for once when you purchase the fermenter.
Discover all the details by opening the accordions at the bottom of the page.
Contact us if you would like help choosing the right product -->.
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Benchtop fermenters and bioreactors
Benchtop fermenters and bioreactors Completely tailor-made based on a proven component base
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Fermenters and production bioreactors
Fermenters and production bioreactors: up to 50,000L.
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Steel pilot fermentors
Fermenters and bioreactors for the pilot phase, in stainless steel, from 5 to 5000L. Entirely made-to-measure on the basis of a proven components base
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Fermenteurs et bioréacteurs multiples
Fermenteurs et bioréacteurs multiples : jusqu'à 24 fermenteurs indépendants en parallèle pour accélérer vos recherches. Entièrement réalisés sur-mesure sur la base d'une base de composants éprouvée.
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Photo-bioreactors for algae
Fermenters and bioreactors specially designed for the cultivation and study of algae. A lot of choice of volumes and lighting.
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Each fermenter is practically a custom-made piece of equipment. Its price therefore varies greatly depending on your exact requirements. That said, here are some examples of prices and delivery times for specific configurations:
Benchtop Fermenters and Bioreactors
5L Single-Wall Glass Benchtop Fermenter. Price: €25,000. Delivered and installed in 10 weeks.
TWIN 2x5L Benchtop Fermenter. Price: €53,000. Delivered and installed in 12 weeks.
15L Single-Wall Glass Benchtop Fermenter. With accessories. Price: €29,600. Delivered and installed in 11 weeks.
2L Double-Wall Glass Fermenter. Price: €23,400.
Stainless Steel Pilot Fermenters
500L Stainless Steel Fermenter. GMP Version. With integrated sterilization and cleaning (SIP and CIP). Price: €320,000. Delivered and installed in 10 months.
Stainless steel scale-up unit with three fermenters: 10L, 100L, and 2000L. With SIP and CIP. Price: €453,000. Delivered and installed in 10 months.
50L stainless steel fermenter. With SIP and CIP. Price: €130,000. Delivered and installed in 17 weeks.
Stainless steel scale-up unit with three fermenters: 40L, 600L, and 3000L, and two 20m³ storage tanks. GMP compliant. Price: €1,914,000. Delivery in 36 weeks.
Parallel fermenters
Twelve 1L fermenters in parallel. Price: €108,000. Delivered and installed in 12 weeks
16 x 0.5L fermenters. With numerous sensors. Price: €399,000. Delivered and installed in 12 weeks
8 x 0.5L fermenters. Price: €189,000. Delivered and installed in 12 weeks
Algae Fermenters
2L fermenter with 50-200 micromoles/m²/s light. Price: €26,000. Delivered and installed in 13 weeks.
Fermenter or bioreactor?
We find both terms in our customers' requests.
The bioreactor is a generic term for a reactor that deals with living things (as opposed to the chemical reactor). Researchers also use it to designate specialized fermenters for cell culture. The term fermenter is rather used to designate bacterial or fungal cultures.
Fermenters for the food industry
These are tanks equipped with a mechanical stirring device which allows the fermented substances to be mixed homogeneously and to ensure good oxygenation of the environment. This type of fermenter is commonly used for the production of fermented products such as yogurt or beer.
Anaerobic fermenters
They are designed for fermentation in the absence of oxygen and used for example to produce cheeses or sauerkraut
Cascade fermenters
They are used for fermentation processes in successive stages, such as for example the preparation of an innoculum, then the growth of the medium.
The multiple cascade allows in particular scale-up to move from small quantities of product to large-scale production
Parallel fermenters
Parallel fermenters are, on the contrary, all the same size. They are used in R&D to accelerate the development process of a new substance, because they allow testing on small volumes of up to 24 sets of parameters for the same biochemical reaction.
Photo-bioreactors
They are used for the cultivation and study of microalgae, cyanobacteria, gametophytes of macroalgae, etc. In general, all photosynthetic microorganisms suspended in water.
These reactors are equipped with intense light which accelerates the development of these microorganisms.
Researchers who use these photo-bioreactors work on bio-fuels, photosynthesis, bio-sourced chemicals, etc.
Piloting system
All our fermenters are controlled by a SIEMENS S7 controller. It is a stable and universal PLC, suitable for a variety of automation applications, especially for manufacturing process control. It is easy to network; it is the control unit of your fermenter.
You can therefore either display on the 10'' touch screen present on the unit all the information present in the software, or on a remote computer (option not encrypted in this offer): transmission of process data, visualization process, recorded samples, process parameters, etc.
And also benefit from all the standard peripherals offered by Siemens to integrate your fermenter into an internal industrial network.
The Siemens automaton makes it possible to exchange data in Profinet or OPC-UA with a SCADA type supervisor.
The BIOWIT control software was developed based on Siemens S7+ Force Control.
It therefore allows great scalability over time if your needs evolve.
It adapts to many actuators and sensors from various brands, which guarantees the scalability of the fermenter according to your needs over time.
The software is in English (FR optional).
The main screen is an ergonomic synoptic which allows you to very simply visualize the state of the fermenter and all the valves at a given time (SCADA type)
As standard, all the most common features are installed in the software:
Process control: either manual or software-driven depending on your recipes
The software can control all the actuators (rotameters, pumps, agitation, aeration, heating or cooling) using the rules you establish and the values read on the different sensors.
You can choose PID or continuous type logic
“Cascade” type laws are possible
User and password management
Sensor Calibration
Synoptic visualization of the instantaneous state of actuators and sensors
Alarms
Storage and export of data from each batch
Semi-automation of the process thanks to the creation of cascade laws.
Tanks
A large number of tanks are available from 0.2L to 50,000L, in stainless steel or glass (single or double wall).
The stainless steel tanks are made of 316L for the part in contact with your products and 304L for the double jacket.
Agitation
All types of agitators are available according to your needs: anchor, rushton, etc.
Sensors
Our sensors (pH, pO2, total biomass, redox, temperature) are generally supplied by US, Swiss or German companies.
Aeration
All fermenters are equipped as standard with rotameters. We can add, depending on your needs, mass flow meters (Vötglin brand).
Pumps
Our fermenters are equipped with WATSON-MARLOW peristaltic pumps. The model varies to adjust the flow rate to the size of the fermenter.
These pumps operate either manually or automatically controlled by the software.
Most often 4 pumps are mounted on our fermenters for acid, base, anti-foam and feed.
But we can add other pumps, for example to do an online analysis, a continuous process, operation in turbidostat mode, etc.
Sterilization
Small fermenters are generally sterilized in an autoclave. For larger and heavier stainless steel tanks, it is necessary to install an In Situ Sterilization (SIP) system.
Our fermenters equipped with SIP have 5 sterilization cycles:
empty tank by injection of steam into the tank
full tank by injection of steam into the double jacket
sterilization of valves and pipes
sterilization and unclogging of filters
full tank by injection of steam into the double mantle and steam into the middle (optional)
Cleaning
All large fermenters generally have 2 spray balls for InSitu Cleaning (CIP). We can also provide you with the CIP plant consisting of a high pressure pump and 2 to 3 tanks to store the washing liquid and detergents.
Outgoing Gas Analysis
The optional outgoing gas analyzer is most often a BlueinOne manufactured by BlueSens. Several versions are available depending on your needs.
The analyzer is housed in a unit positioned next to the fermenter.
This instrument measures the infrared radiation (NDIR) and its selective absorption of the infrared band at a specific wavelength for a given gas. The absorption depends on the concentration of the gas being measured.
The instrument can continuously measure a variety of other gases in the gas mixture: CO, CO2, CH4, NO, SO2, and NH3. It is used, for example, in the petroleum, chemical, metallurgical, and other industrial control sectors. It is also used to determine gas content in agriculture, healthcare, universities, and other research settings.
Calculation Module
To create and use the soft sensors, we equip our fermenters with BlueVis 4.0 software from BlueSens.
Its full functionality is only available if you also purchase the BlueInOne or BlueVary gas analyzer.
This software features an OPC server that allows for real-time analysis of data from fermenters. It calculates OUR, CER, RQ, kLa, and biomass estimation (soft sensor) in real time.
You can also use your own soft sensors, such as biomass X, OUR/CER, qO2, incoming substrate, instantaneous productivity, and specific growth rate (µ).
BlueVis transforms a standard fermenter into a bioprocess intelligence system capable of providing real-time biomass, metabolic activity, and feed control indicators without adding costly instrumentation.
You can then have control laws based on one or more soft sensors, as in the following examples:
1) Fed-batch control by estimated µ
2) Feed control by RQ
3) Control by OUR (or DO + OUR) to stay just below an O₂ limit
4) Phase control (automatic transition detection)
Our fermenters are manufactured by Bailun Technology
Then we modify them slightly before delivery by integrating small accessories of our design which improve the ease of use and the longevity of the consumables.
Bailun Technology is a fermenter manufacturer based north of Shanghai.
They started 22 years ago as an INOX sheet metal manufacturer to manufacture tanks of all sizes for the food industry.
Then they diversified 15 years ago into the manufacture of fermenters, first simple (for brewers for example), then more technical for the pharmaceutical industry and biotechs.
Their know-how in terms of welding and working with stainless steel is a real advantage for customers.
Furthermore, over the past 5 years, they have chosen to completely review their product range to integrate critical components from European or US brands. In particular by redeveloping the control software on a SIEMENS S7 hardware and software platform.
In doing so, Bailun has had great success in recent years in ASIA with its fermenters.
Outside of China, Innobiomed fermenters are exported under the Innova brand which is their export distributor.