FAQ
Frequently asked questions
BIOREACTOR
Sugarcane, pineapple, banana and plantain, stevia, yam, potato, sweet potato, phalaenopsis, ginger, paulownia, miscanthus, tea, coffee, eucalyptus, blueberries, cannabis and many others.
- Pineapple: 500-800
- Banana: 400-500
- Sugarcane: 1000-1200
- Potato: 300-500
Thanks to our custom silicone gaskets, SETIS™ Bioreactors are very secure for external contamination. It’s important that customers ensure that the bioreactors are tightly closed. Our Caps Holder is strongly recommended to tighten the bioreactors optimally.
You can only use neutral detergent. (pH=7). E.g.: Brand X
AIR HANDELING
Water condenses in the compressed air can affect all pneumatic valves, pressure regulators and membrane air filters. By reducing air humidity, a great portion of dust/contaminant particles is removed as well. Once air is dry, filtration is more efficient, guaranteeing high quality air for the bioreactors, with minimum concentration of particles and contaminants.
Our platform requires very low air pressure: 01-02 BAR.
SE-F50 are renewable, autoclavable filters for SETIS™ bioreactors.
They use double filtration:
- Macro-filtration through PP membrane
- Fine filtration through a PTFE membrane.
You have to respect the filtration direction. External air should come from the “IN” direction.
SE-F3set is a set of filters, 5/0,3/0,01µm, to filtrate the Air Supply coming from the compressor, which is humid and still contains a large number of particles (consequently contaminants). The air needs to be dried out and all particles removed.
CONTROL UNIT
Up to 6400.
Once an update to a newer version of the Software is available, you can install this update through the SETIS™ Update Utility application.
1-32 Bioreactors.
No. Software is included with your Control Unit.
During the design of our platform, we focused on having lower power consumption. Our Control Unit itself uses very low power: 0,4 W per solenoid valve (Control Point). Based on the number of Control Points you can calculate the total consumption of the installation. The Air Dryer (180W), Compressor (1,1kW) and your lamps will use the most power.
RACKS
We offer customized racks for SETIS™, designed to save space and optimized for ventilation between shelves. As long as your racks are stable and able to support 90kg/m2., you can use your own racks.
When a bioreactor is removed from the Rack, pinch off the Rack’s Air netting of this particular bioreactor.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
We make a distinction between SETIS™ related support and crop-specific support and training. We are always available to answer questions regarding installation and to provide general advice on handling our system. Crop related assistance can be obtained through our consultancies and is charged separately.
We can assist during installation, consultancy based. Our expert can detect which points have to be modified to make the process safer and more efficient. However, we do recommend that our consultant visits after SETIS™ has already been installed and tested a few weeks. Our consultant will supervise your installation. This way you’ll have a lot more specific question. Our expert will be able to assist you more precisely.
First Consultancy is given in three steps:
- Installation supervision and control. Evaluation of the lab setup and suggestions for changes in the workflow to adapt your lab for production with the bioreactors. We check every step to indicate which are the weak points in production that need to be modified to make the process safer and more efficient.
- Training in handling the bioreactor and all its components. Specifically, the three critical handlings (washing, media prep. and laminar flow work). We’ll practice and train your staff for each of these processes.
- Software and planning. How to operate the control unit/software, the options included and expansion.
Consultancy can take from 3-5 working days. Depending on how much practical training the client requires. Rates: 90€/hour (8 hours/day) + 1 day transit. Excluded of VAT, transport (international and local), accommodation and daily reimbursable + 1 day transit.
EXPANDING MY INSTALLATION
No, when air capacity is not sufficient, an external tank of 120 liters, SE-T120l, can be coupled to the compressor. Recommended for installations of + 500 bioreactors, sufficient to run thousands of bioreactors.
No, the PLC Master of your Control Unit can control up to 6400 bioreactors. Our standard Control Unit, SE-CK4, comes with 4 Control Points, each Control Point can control up to 32 bioreactors. You can expand beyond these 132 bioreactors by simply adding extra Control Point hardware, allowing you to easily extend your installation at your own pace.
LIFESPAN
When handled as recommend in our manuals, the bioreactors last many years. We have had bioreactors in operation for over years.
The connectors are the only sensitive part of our bioreactors. If they get loose, you can use our repair kit (SE-GKR) with the Epoxy glue handgun (SE-GEH). This kit contains a very specific type of medical grade epoxy glue (Loctite M-31CL) and accessories you need to repair broken connectors.
The Air Filters have to be renewed every 10-15 use/sterilization cycles.
Control each filter during preparation for autoclaving. If you detect any change in color, brown spots, water inside or any other change, discard the filter.
It’s important to avoid any shock to the connectors during all handlings. When placing/removing the silicone tube, twist the tube IN/OUT. Do not pull. It’s not necessary to place the tube deep into the connector, the second grip of the connector is sufficient. Since SETIS™ Bioreactors work with very low air pressure (0,1-0,2 BAR), the tube won’t get loose.
STERILIZATION
2-5 % is acceptable, as in conventional TC.
- Fungi --> Through Air.
Air Filters could show some humidity due to over-ventilation or could be damaged during sterilization. Problems with sterility of the vessels after autoclaving could occur. The sealing of the screw caps in the culture vessel might be interrupted. There could be an issue with storage of media. - Endogenous bacteria
If contamination occurs a few weeks after inoculation, it is most likely caused by fungi.
Discard the plants.
Most autoclaves for bioscience related usage will be sufficient.
In a vertical autoclave of 75L, you can sterilize 2 complete bioreactors or 4 Culture vessels / 6 Media vessels at once. For production we recommend a larger +80L horizontal autoclave.
The autoclave must be able to do 20 min at 120°C and 1,2 atm (= 17,26 psi) of pressure.
QUOTATION
Our quotations are valid for 1 month. Price of Delivery is guaranteed for 2 weeks.
EUR1, ATR, CO, etc… Please request any additional documentation as soon as possible, preferably simultaneously with your quotation request. We cannot provide these documents once payment is processed / shipment is already sent.
TRANSPORTATION
EX Works
When shipping boxes: DAP by Courier Express.
When shipping pallets: CFR port indicated, or CPT airport indicated.
Please notify us when requesting a quotation if you prefer CIF or CIP over CFR and CPT.
This depends on the preferred mode of transportation, which articles you’re ordering and the time of purchase. We start preparing shipment immediately after receiving payment. Except in circumstances beyond our control, we generally have most articles in stock, except for our Control Unit, SE-CK4, which is prepared order-based.
Orders including SE-CK4, have an indicative lead time of 3 weeks after receiving payment.
When we have every article ready for shipment, we indicate this by denoting “+1 day” in the field “delivery date” of your quotation.
When articles in your shipment require further preparation, we indicate this by denoting “+3 weeks” in the field “delivery date” of your quotation.
PAYMENT
No, we only accept wire transfer.
OUR. Client bears all costs. Payment should occur in account in the exact amount mentioned on our quotation/invoice.
We start preparing shipment once full payment is received. Belgian customers are the only exception, in their case a P.O. is sufficient.
No. Please notify us prior processing payment / requesting our invoice. Additional documents/ certificates may come at an extra cost. We may decline requests for additional documents if we receive them after payment is processed / invoice has been made.
TISSUE CULTURE
Working in bulk and with liquid media leads to heavily reduced agar and labour costs.
You can produce more plants per square meter and multiplication rate can be higher.
Media renewal and the rooting phase in its entirety are the most significant advantages of SETIS™: you require a lot less lab space for rooting. Only the Media Vessels are changed, and Media is prepared separately. You can change media for hundreds of plants at once in a matter of seconds, without touching plant material.
Plant quality in SETIS™ is very good, mainly due to the excellent drainage of the bioreactors and the forced ventilations given inside the vessels. This leads to great results in hardening phase.
The design of our system arose from a combination of academic and commercial experience. This unique combination sets us apart from our competitors and enabled us to design our platform with user
friendliness in mind, resulting in a system that’s easy to operate and easy to expend. We offer the entire setup to maximize micropropagation with our bioreactors: Accessories, Racks, Control Unit with Software and Air Handling. Each item has been specifically designed or selected to optimize performance of your SETIS™ setup. The whole process is automated via our Control Unit and can be followed wireless from any web-browser terminal. Our state-of-the-art Control Unit is no match for simple timers. Our Control Unit and selected Air handling equipment can be easily adapted to control thousands of bioreactors.
The amount of nutrient depends on various factors, but in general 3-10 ml per explant is recommended.
Plant material only needs to be submerged briefly with media. The idea is to lift the media and stop immediately after all media is up. Therefore, the recommended duration of immersion = just enough time to submerge the plant material. This is around 1-2 minutes, depending on the height of your material and quantity of media in the Media Vessel. Bubbling in the Culture Vessel, once all media is transferred, is not desired, as this will increase humidity in the Culture Vessel. Frequency of immersion = 4-6 times/ day. If you see some vitrification, reduce the number of immersions.
Recommended frequency and duration: Once every two hours, with a duration of 30-45 seconds. This parameter has to be finetuned very well, depending on the plant response.
Max 1 min. longer ventilations will:
- drop humidity in the Culture Vessel too fast, which will stress the plant.
- increase humidity in the Media Vessel and create condensation in the Air Filters.
If more ventilation is desired, it’s better to work based on frequencies.
We can provide a protocol for some crops. This is charged separately and is only reserved for well-established partners.