CLL 780

Tutorial 2- Cell Growth Kinetics

Basics to revise before solving:
A) Monod batch growth kinetics
B) Chemostat: Dilution factor, cell concentration and substrate
concentration in a chemostat
C) Oxygen uptake and transfer rate expressions
Q1. A strain of mold was grown in a batch culture of glucose and the
following data was obtained.
Time (h)
0
9
16
23
30
34
36
40

Cell Concentration (g/L) Glucose Concentration (g/L)

1.25
100
2.45
97
5.1
90.4
10.5
76.9
22
48.1
33
20.6
37.5
9.38
41
0.63

a) Calculate the maximum net specific growth rate.

b) Calculate the apparent growth yield.
c) What maximum cell concentration could one expect if 150 g of
glucose were used with the same size inoculum?
d) Calculate the mass doubling time.
Q2. A chemostat experiment was performed. The flow rate was varied
and the steady state concentration of cells and glucose in the fermenter
were measured and recorded. The inlet concentration of glucose was set
as 100 g/L. The volume of the fermenter was 500 mL. The inlet stream
was sterile.

Flow Rate (mL/hr)

31
50
71
91
200

Cell Concentration
(g/L)
5.97
5.94
5.88
5.76
0

Substrate Concentration
(g/L)
0.5
1
2
4
100

a) Find the rate equation for cell growth.

b) What should be the range of the flow rate to prevent washout of the
cells?
Q3. Pseudomonas sp. has a mass doubling tie of 2.4 h when grown on
acetate. The saturation constant using this substrate is 1.3 g/l, and cell
yield on acetate is 0.46 g cell/g acetate. If we operate a chemostat on a
feed stream containing 38 g/L acetate. Find the following:
a) Cell concentration when dilution rate is one half of the maximum
b) Substrate concentration when the dilution rate is 0.8 Dmax
c) Maximum Dilution rate
d) Cell productivity at 0.8 Dmax
Q4. The maximum specific oxygen uptake rate of a particular organism is
given as 5 mmol O2 g1 h1. The organism is grown in a stirred
fermenter to a cell density of 40 g/liter. The kLa under these conditions is
0.15 sec1. At the fermenter operating temperature and pressure, the
solubility of oxygen in the culture liquid is 8 x 103 kg m3. Is the rate
of cell metabolism limited by mass transfer or solely dependent on
metabolic kinetics? (i.e. are you supplying oxygen at a rate sufficient to
maintain the cells at the density required?)

Q5. E.coli was continuously cultured in a continuous stirred tank

fermenter with a working volume of 1L by chemostat. A medium
containing 4 g/L of glucose as a carbon source was fed to the fermenter at
a constant flow rate of 0.5 L/h, and the glucose concentration in the output
stream was 0.20 g/L. The cell yield w.r.t glucose YXS was 0.42g dry cells
per gram glucose.
Determine the cell concentration in the output stream and the specific
growth rate.