A bioreactor is a vessel in which is carried out a chemical process which involves organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms. 

Bioreactors are commonly cylindrical, ranging in size from some liter to cube meters,and are often made of stainless steel.

Bioreactor design is quite a complex engineering task. Under optimum conditions the microorganisms or cells will reproduce at an astounding rate. The vessel's environmental conditions like gas (i.e., air, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide) flowrates, temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen levels, and agitation speed need to be closely monitored and controlled. One bioreactor manufacturer, Broadley-James Corporation, uses vessels, sensors, controllers, and a control system, digitally networked together for their bioreactor system. 

Continuous flow stirred tank reactors (chemostat) In the continuous flow, stirred tank reactor (CSTR or chemostat) fresh medium is fed into the bioreactor at a constant rate, and medium mixed with cells leaves the bioreactor at the same rate. A fixed bioreactor volume is maintained and ideally, the effluent stream should have the same composition as the bioreactor contents. The culture is fed with fresh medium containing one and sometimes two growth-limiting nutrients such as glucose. The concentration of the cells in the bioreactor is controlled by the concentration of the growth-limiting nutrient. A steady state cell concentration is reached where the cell density and substrate concentration are constant. The cell growth rate (µ) is controlled by the dilution rate (D) of growth limiting nutrient.

Cell culture bioreactors are categorized into two types: 1. Those that are used for cultivation of anchorage dependent cells (e.g. primary cultures derived from normal tissues and diploid cell lines. 2. Those that are used for the cultivation of suspended mammalian cells (e.g. cell lines derived from cancerous tissues and tumors, transformed diploid cell lines, hybridomas). In some cases the bioreactor may be modified to grow both anchorage dependent and suspended cells. Ideally any cell culture bioreactor must maintain a sterile culture of cells in medium conditions which maximize cell growth and productivity.

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