The SYSBIOTECH Pro-Lab is a PLC-based bioreactor control system engineered for fermentation and cell culture process R&D. Each controller unit manages up to 2 vessels simultaneously, making it suitable for parallel experiments, strain screening, and small-scale process optimization in biopharmaceutical and industrial biotechnology laboratories.

What process parameters does the Pro-Lab control?

Each vessel supports up to 8 independently configurable control loops: agitation (mechanical or magnetic seal, with pitched-blade, Rushton, or marine impellers), temperature (jacketed heating/cooling), pH, dissolved oxygen (pO₂), antifoam, level, redox (ORP), and optical density (OD). The front panel integrates peristaltic pumps, rotameters, and pneumatic fittings for direct fluid handling, with a red/green visual status indicator and emergency stop for operational safety.

What vessel types and working volumes are compatible?

The Pro-Lab accommodates double-jacketed glass vessels (hemispherical bottom, 1–10 L working volume, 9–16 head plate ports) and single-jacketed glass vessels (flat bottom, 0.2–8 L working volume, 9–16 head plate ports with 3 side ports). All vessels are constructed from borosilicate glass with AISI 316L stainless steel head plates and EPDM seals. Configurable head plate ports accept condensers, multiple sparger types, dip-tubes, sampling ports, and sensor probes — enabling custom vessel setups per process requirement.

How does the C-BIO2 software and HMI architecture work?

The C-BIO2 operator software runs on a dedicated PC/HMI and communicates with the PLC controller via Ethernet. This separates the measurement/control hardware from the operator interface, allowing remote monitoring and data logging from a workstation. The software manages setpoint programming, real-time trend display, alarm handling, and recipe storage for reproducible batch execution. Batch, fed-batch, and perfusion process strategies are all natively supported within the C-BIO2 environment.