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No of Pages : 5 Course Code: 04B602

Roll No:
(To be filled in by the candidate)

PSG COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, COIMBATORE - 641 004

SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS, NOVEMBER 2011

B.Tech BIOTECHNOLOGY Semester: 06

04B602 BIOPROCESS TECHNOLOGY

Time : 3 Hours Maximum Marks: 100

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Group I and Group II questions should be answered in the Main Answer Book.
2. Answer any 6 questions in Group II.
3. Answer ALL questions in Group I and Group III.
4. Group III – Multiple Choice questions - (which will be given to the candidates half an
hour before the scheduled close of the examination) should be answered only in the
space provided in the Main Answer Book.
5. Graph sheets are to be provided

GROUP I Marks: 10 x 3 = 30
1. Write the role of statistical models in medium optimization.
2. Justify: Yx/sM ≠ Yx/s AP
3. A bacteria is doubling in every thirty minutes, find out its specific growth rate assuming
first order growth kinetics
4. Uniform KLa is difficult to achieve in pseudoplastic medium- validate and justify.
5. Prove that overall mass transfer resistance is approximately equal to the resistance at the
stagnant liquid film side.
6. What are the differences in pulse input and step input, exemplify with required sketches
of inputs and outputs for CSTR.
7. An inoculum of yeast is added to a solution containing 10gl-1 glucose, after some time
only 1 gl-1 glucose remains, while the concentration of ethanol is 3.2 gl-1. Determine the
fractional conversion of glucose to ethanol and the yield of ethanol from glucose.
8. Give a neat labeled sketch of a chemostat with cell recycling stream.
9. How will you measure DO using Winkler method?
10. How do you define probability of unsuccessful sterilization?
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GROUP II Marks: 6 x 10 = 60

11. i. Dynamic gassing out method data is given. Assuming Cl*=8ppm, determine K La and
specific oxygen uptake rate if 5g/l cells are present in 10l medium. (8)
Time 0 10 15 20 30 40 50 70 100
(sec)
Cl% 95 42.5 52.5 59 66.5 69.5 71 72 72.5
ii. Calculate maximum air flow rate that can be used without impeller flooding in a non-
standard fermenter having tank diameter of 20cm and with an impeller of diameter 10cm
operating at 100 rpm. (4)

12. A fermenter used for antibiotic production must be kept at 27°C. After considering the
oxygen demand of the organism and the heat dissipation from the stirrer, the maximum
heat-transfer rate required is estimated as 550kW. Cooling water is available at 10°C;
the exit temperature of the cooling water is calculated using an energy balance as 25°C.
The heat-transfer coefficient for the cooling water is calculated as 14000 Wm -2°C-1.
It is proposed to install a helical cooling coil inside the fermenter; the outer diameter of
the coil pipe is 8 cm, the pipe thickness is 5 mm and the thermal conductivity of the
steel is 60Wm-1°C-1. An average internal fouling factor of 8500 Wm -2°C-1 is expected;
the fermenter side surface of the coil is kept relatively clean. What length of the cooling
coil is required?

13. A chemostat is run with a cell recycle stream. The feed is 10 g of glucose/liter and the
feed flow rate is 100 ml/hr and the culture volume is 1000ml. It was measured that
μm-0.2hr-1, Ks-1.2g glucose/liter. The concentration factor is 2 and the recycle ratio is
0.6. The yield co-efficient is 0.45 g dw cells/g substrate consumed. A product is being
produced with qp-0.2 g product/g cells, Yp/s-0.1 and Po-0. Write the material balance for
substrate and cells around the reactor and cell separator. Also calculate the
productivities of product and biomass for this reactor configuration by neglecting
endogenous metabolism.

14. Explain the various approaches to monitor and control the physical and chemical
environment of a reactor.

15. Consider the data given for temperature changes during sterilization in a 10000 liter
fermentor, which includes the heat-up and cool-down periods.

Time (min) 0 20 30 40 50 55 60 65 70 90 100 120 140

°C 30 54 70 95 121 121 121 106 98 75 64 46 32

Assume an initial spore concentration of 108/liter and a heat sensitive vitamin

(Thiamine) concentration of 80mg/liter. The values for pre-Arrhenius constant and the

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values of Activation energies for the spores and vitamin are also given. (Sterilization
chart can be used – figure 1)

Activation energy Frequency factor

Spore 65 Kcal/gmol 1x1036 min-1
Thiamine 10 Kcal/gmol 1x104 min-1
i. Calculate the probability of an unsuccessful sterilization (neglecting heating up & cooling
down periods)
ii. Calculate the function of vitamin degraded during the heating up & holding time.

16. Immobilized lactase in resin particles are packed into a 0.5m 3 column. The total
effectiveness factor for the system is close to unity, k m=1.32 kg/m3 and
Vmax=45 kg/m3hr. The lactose concentration in the feed stream is 9.5 kg/m 3 a substrate
concentration of 98% is required. The column is operated with plug flow for a total of
310 days per year.
i. At what flow rate should the reactor be operated?
ii. How many tones of glucose are produced per year?

17. Elaborate the various guidelines for choosing Host-Vector systems for better
productivity.

Figure1-Sterilization chart

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/END/

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Roll No:

Write the Alphabet of your choice answer for each question in the space provided in
the Main Answer Book
(Do not attach this question paper along with the Main Answer Book)

04B602 BIOPROCESS TECHNOLOGY

GROUP III Marks: 10 x 1 = 10

I) Peclet number is associated with,

A) Buoyancy effects.
B) Fluid transport.
C) Forced convection.
D) High temperature difference.   
  
II) According to the penetration theory of mass transfer, the mass transfer coefficient (k)
varies with diffusion coefficient (D) of the diffusing species as
A)  D                   B)  D -1/2                C)  D 1/2                 D)  D 3/2

III) Washout (D=µmax) of a CSTR is characterized by (X=biomass, S=substrate

concentration in bioreactor, S0=Substrate concentration in feed, P=product concentration
in bioreactor)
A) X=0,S=0,P=0 B) X=0,S=S0,P=0 C) X=0,S<0,P=0 D) X<0,S<0,P<0

IV) What is the exit conversion of reactant A for a zero order reaction taking place in a
CSTR with the following data (rate constant= 1 mol/min.L); feed concentration =
1 mol/L; feed flow rate = 0.5 L/min and reactor volume = 1L
A) 50% B) 75% C) 100%          D) 200%
V)  Match the equipment in Group I to the internals in Group II.
  GROUP  I                              GROUP II
P.  Centrifugal pump                   1. Baffle
Q. Distillation column                 2. Impeller
R.  Heat exchanger                      3. Tray
4. Volute
A)  P-2, Q-1, R-4                         B)  P-2, Q-4, R-3
C)  P-1, Q-3, R-4                         D)  P-4, Q-3, R-1

VI) Toothpaste is a
A)  Bingham plastic  B) Pseudo plastic C) Newtonian liquid    D) Dilatant

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Analyze the data and answer the questions:

A microbe grows in a continuos chemostat culture of 60 m3 working volume with sucrose as
the growth limiting nutrient at dilution rate, D=0.55 h-1. The steady state biomass
concentration is 4.5kg dry biomass m-3 and the residual sucrose concentration is 2.0 Kgm-3.

VII) The sucrose concentration in the incoming feed medium is 10.0kgm -3. What would be
the yield YX/S
A) 0.562 B) 0.462 C) 0.362 D) 0.162

VIII)What would be the sucrose concentration in the input feed for the output to be
45 kg biomass h-1?
A) 3.225 kg m-3 B) 4.425 kg m-3 C) 5.115 kg m-3 D) 6.525 kg m-3

The liquid phase reaction A→Products is to be carried out at constant temperature in a

CSTR followed by a PFR in series.  The overall conversion of A achieved by the reactor
system (CSTR + PFR) is 95%.  The CSTR has a volume of 75 liters.  Pure A is fed to the
CSTR at a concentration CAO = 2 mol/liter and a volumetric flow rate of 4 liters/min.  The
kinetics of the reaction is given by 0.1CA mol/lit,min
                                                           
IX) The conversion achieved by the CSTR is
A)  40%                     B)  50%                       C)  60%                       D)  80%

X) The volume of the PFR required (in liters) is

       A)  380                  B)  350                        C)  75                          D)  35

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