Description
The Solaris M Series is a pilot-scale stainless steel bioreactor and fermenter platform designed for process development, scale-up studies, pilot production, and small-scale manufacturing. Available in standard volumes from 30 L to 200 L, it provides a practical step between benchtop systems and full industrial production.
Each system is built around a jacketed AISI 316L stainless steel vessel with sanitary pipework and industrial-grade components, offering robust performance, cleanability, and long service life. The M Series is supplied with SIP capability as standard and can be configured with CIP options, making it well suited to applications where sterility, repeatability, and efficient turnaround are important.
The platform supports microbial, anaerobic, aerobic, and selected cell culture processes, with configurable agitation, gas mixing, feeding, and sensor options to match specific process requirements. Temperature control is achieved through a side and bottom jacketed vessel design for efficient heat transfer and stable operation across a wide working volume range.
Control is managed through Solaris Leonardo software, providing real-time monitoring, automation, data logging, recipe control, and remote access.
The M Series is an industrial-style pilot system for organisations that need reliable, scalable bioprocess equipment between laboratory development and full production.
Automation and Software
Innovative SCADA software LEONARDO 3.0: a smart and user-friendly controller designed to provide a high level of automated management of the fermentation/cultivation processes.
- 24” coloured touch screen industrial HMI.
- Included in the equipment supply.
- Data extraction in .csv format.
- Remote access via PC, tablet or smartphone, with QR code scanning or dedicated portal.
- Remote control for after sale assistance.
Features
- 6 different volumes: 30 L, 50 L, 75 L, 100 L, 150 L, 200 L. 3:1 H/D ratio.
- Finishing: mirror polished (internal and external).
- Double jacket (side/bottom), for higher heat transfer efficiency and optimal temperature control.
- Welded baffles.
- Modbus digital sensors.
- Stainless-steel industrial PCS LEM_2, with a selectable number of peristaltic pumps, choosing between Watson Marlow WM 114, WM 313 and WM 520.
- Parts in contact with the culture AISI 316 L, other parts AISI 304.
- Compact design.
- Bacteria (Toro sparger, Rushton impellers) and cell cultures (Sintered sparger, Marine impellers) configurations available.
- Wide range of measurement and control options for cell cultures and aerobic/anaerobic microbial fermentations, including temperature, pH, dO2, dCO2, redox, antifoam, level, conductivity, weight, cell density (total cells, viable cells).
- Suitable for batch, fed-batch and continuous processes.
- Powerful and accurate (1 RPM) brushless motor, mounted on top.
Benefits
- Different gas mixing strategies with a selectable number of TMFCs or solenoid valves, for air, O2, CO2 and N2.
- Up to 2 steam bridges (re-sterilizable diaphragm valves for inoculum/feedings) can be added in option (with manual or automatic sterilization control).
- TK connection.
- Single mechanical seal. Double mechanical seal, with automatic lubrication though steam condensate loop available in option.
- Separate drains: cooling water return, condense drain to waste, hot condense return.
- Optional vessel empty sterilization.
- SALAS (Solaris Sterile Liquid Addition System) included in the standard configuration.
- Non-SIP sampling and harvest valves are included in the standard configuration. Steam SIP lines can be added in option. Manual or automatic sterilization.
- Tri-Clamp stainless steel piping.
- Thermoregulation loop consisting of n.2 heat exchangers and recirculating pump.
- Gravimetric flow control (option): feed rates controlled through weight measurement. CIP system options: n. of removable spray balls or integrated system (recirculating pump + n. of removable spray balls + software automation). N. of spray balls depending on vessel volume.
Leonardo: Supervisory Control Software
Leonardo is the Process Control System (PCS) software installed across the full Solaris product range, including benchtop bioreactors and fermenters, pilot and industrial systems, and tangential flow filtration (TFF) platforms. Using a common software environment across all scales helps simplify training, day-to-day operation, and process scale-up.
The software is web-based and supplied on a 24” all-in-one touchscreen interface running a Linux operating system. Leonardo communicates with one or more Siemens PLCs to control, monitor, and record all relevant process parameters throughout cultivation or filtration runs.
Real-time process data is displayed clearly to the user, providing immediate visibility of key operating conditions and system performance. Historical data logging, trend analysis, and process records are also available to support development work, optimisation, and batch traceability.
Leonardo is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate. Pages are clearly structured around their relevant functions, allowing users to access controls, trends, recipes, calibration tools, and alarms efficiently. An integrated context-help manual is included within the software, explaining the purpose of each on-screen function and helping new users become confident quickly.
The result is a powerful yet user-friendly control platform that supports both routine operation and advanced process development, while maintaining a consistent user experience from benchtop scale through to production systems.
LEM_2 Automation Platform
LEM_2 is Solaris’ high-performance Process Control System (PCS) designed for pilot-scale M Series bioreactors and fermenters. Built for efficient operation in pilot environments, it combines robust industrial construction with flexible automation and intuitive control.
The system is housed within a compact stainless-steel cabinet and supplied with a 24” touchscreen PC running Leonardo software, providing a clear and user-friendly interface for process monitoring, control, and data management.
Key features include:
- Siemens S7 PLC-based control for stable communication, reliable performance, and straightforward scalability.
- Leonardo software for intuitive operation, real-time data visualisation, alarm management, recipes, and process control.
- Complete measurement and control functionality, managing all core automation parameters of the fermenter or bioreactor
- Flexible pump configuration, with options including Watson-Marlow WM114, WM313, WM520, or WM114 ST, selected to suit process flow rate and dosing requirements.
- Industrial stainless-steel cabinet design for durability, hygiene, and suitability within pilot-scale production areas.
LEM_2 provides a reliable and adaptable automation platform for pilot-scale bioprocessing, giving users the control, flexibility, and process visibility required for scale-up and development work.
More on Solaris
Solaris Biotech benchtop fermenters and bioreactors offer efficient platforms for R&D and product development applications. Their broad range of products are flexible and easy to use, ensuring there is always a solution specific to your needs and requirements – from research scale of a few hundred ml up to cGMP production of > 2000L.
Benefits include compact and user friendly designs, parallel software platform, up-to-date and open communication protocols.
The product range is used in universities, schools and research centres, as well as in pharma, nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, chemical, agricultural, and food and beverage industries, not to mention bioplastics and biofuels applications.
Solaris Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF) systems, fully automated within the Kronos product line, combine industrial elements and a compact design. For larger scale TFF applications open to customisation, consider the Tytan platform.
