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Computer Simulation Elucidates Yeast Flocculation and Sedimentation for Efficient Industrial Fermentation
Author(s) -
Liu ChenGuang,
Li ZhiYang,
Hao Yue,
Xia Juan,
Bai FengWu,
Mehmood Muhammad Aamer
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.201700697
Subject(s) - flocculation , sedimentation , adsorption , porosity , yeast , chemical engineering , fermentation , diffusion , chemistry , materials science , biochemical engineering , biological system , biology , thermodynamics , composite material , physics , engineering , food science , biochemistry , paleontology , organic chemistry , sediment
Flocculation plays an important role in the immobilized fermentation of biofuels and biochemicals. It is essential to understand the flocculation phenomenon at physical and molecular scale; however, flocs cannot be studied directly due to fragile nature. Hence, the present study is focused on the morphological specificities of yeast flocs formation and sedimentation via the computer simulation by a single floc growth model, based on Diffusion‐Limited Aggregation (DLA) model. The impact of shear force, adsorption, and cell propagation on porosity and floc size is systematically illustrated. Strong shear force and weak adsorption reduced floc size but have little impact on porosity. Besides, cell propagation concreted the compactness of flocs enabling them to gain a larger size. Later, a multiple flocs growth model is developed to explain sedimentation at various initial floc sizes. Both models exhibited qualitative agreements with available experimental data. By regulating the operation constraints during fermentation, the present study will lead to finding optimal conditions to control the floc size distribution for efficient fermentation and harvesting.