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Effect of diffusion limitations and floc size distributions on fermentor performance and the interpretation of experimental data
Author(s) -
Atkinson B.,
Rahman F.Ur
Publication year - 1979
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.260210209
Subject(s) - diffusion , chemistry , fermentation , thermodynamics , phase (matter) , chromatography , materials science , physics , food science , organic chemistry
The biological rate equation that describes the overall rate of substrate uptake by microbial films has been extended to microbial flocs with the aid of a shape parameter. The “solid”‐ and liquid‐phase diffusion limitations are explored and found to depend largely on a dimensionles characteristic size k 2 1 V p / A p . Procedures are discussed by which k 2 1 V p / A p can be determined from experimental data on the conversion efficiency in a completely mixed fermentor and measurements carried out on flocs recovered from the fermentor are assessed. Floc size distributions are shown to affect the performance characteristics of a fermentor when some of the flocs are sufficiently large to exhibit a diffusional limitation, and it is concluded that a single mean floc size ( k 2 1 V p / A p )* is sufficient to characterize a given distribution, at least when all the flocs are geometrically similar. The mean floc size closely corresponds to the “surface” mean floc size of the floc size distributions.