During the past five years, the number of single‐use bioreactors used in biopharmaceutical research and production has increased tremendously. This increase has been particularly associated with mammalian cell culture processes from small‐ to medium‐scale volumes. Even though nowadays customers can choose from a multitude of 2nd and 3rd generation single‐use bioreactors, ranging from mL‐ up to m3‐scale, there is a lack of knowledge of their engineering parameters. Different approaches have been applied to characterization investigations, resulting in an inability to compare different single‐use bioreactors with each other and their reusable counterparts, creating an obstacle to a systematic approach to scaling‐up the process. This article describes parametric, experimental and computer‐based numeric methods for biochemical engineering characterization of single‐use bioreactors, which have already been used successfully for the characterization of their reusable counterparts. For the first time, these methods have been evaluated in terms of their practical application.

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We report on the facile synthesis of porous carbons based on a biopolymer lignin employing a two-step process which includes the activation by KOH in various amounts under an inert gas atmosphere. The resulting carbons are characterized with regard to their structural properties and their electrochemical performance as an active material in double-layer capacitors using for the first time an ionic liquid (EMIBF4) as the electrolyte for this type of carbon material to enhance storage ability. A capacitance of more than 200 F g–1 at 10 A g–1 is achieved for a carbon with a specific surface area of more than 1800 m2 g–1. One of the most crucial factors determining the electrochemical response of the active materials was found to be the strong surface functionalization by oxygen-containing groups. Furthermore, the sulfur content of the carbon precursor lignin does not result in a significant amount of sulfur-containing surface functionalities which might interact with the electrolyte.