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Effect of mass transfer resistance on the lineweaver–burk plots for flocculating microorganisms
Author(s) -
Ngian K. F.,
Lin S. H.,
Martin W. R. B.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.260191204
Subject(s) - flocculation , mass transfer , chemistry , diffusion , substrate (aquarium) , kinetic energy , chromatography , thermodynamics , biology , ecology , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
It is shown that the mass transfer resistance can significantly distort the linearity of the Lineweaver–Burk plot of the kinetic data for a microbial culture which forms aggregates. For small flocs, the linearity of the Lineweaver–Burk plot is largely retained, but a different slope and intercept will be obtained compared with flocs free from mass transfer resistance. For large flocs, the Lineweaver–Burk plot shows pronounced curvature at high limiting substrate concentrations. Hence, if the true intrinsic kinetic parameters are to be extracted from a highly flocculating microbial culture, sufficient agitation has to be provided to remove the effect of mass transfer resistance. If the behavior of the flocculating microbial culture is to be explored, additional values for some physical parameters, such as the effective diffusion coefficient of the substrate in floc, the floc density, and the mean floc radius, are needed.