Artemisinin production by adventitious shoots of Artemisia annua in a  novel mist bioreactor.

Liu-Chun-Zhao; Wang-Yu-Chun {a}; Kang-Xue-Zhen; Ouyang-Fan;Ye-He-Chun; Li-Guo-Feng
 

A novel ultrasonic inner-loop bioreactor was used for artemisinin production by adventitious shoots in a multiplate culture of
Artemisia annua L. The bioreactor was designed to allow the nutrient mist to uprise along a concentric draught-cylinder until
it overflows from the top opening and the side-holes of the central tube downward and out of the annulus, so that the
nutrient mist can be fulfilled in the bioreactor within 2 apprx 3 minutes. Under the misting cycles of every 3-minute misting
in every 90 minute interval, artemisinin production reached totally 46.9 mg DW/L of culture medium at an airflow rate of
0.5 L/min for 25 d of culture in batches. The product amounted 2.9 and 3.2 folds of those obtained from culturing in solid
medium and in shaking flasks respectively.