Study of gaseous substrate fermentations: Carbon monoxide conversion to acetate. 1. Batch culture

Biological processes may be used to convert gas phase substrates, such as H 2 S, CH 4 , CO, H 2 , and CO 2 , to useful products. Utilization of these substrates is often a mass transfer limited process, first requiring absorption across the gas‐liquid interface and diffusion through the culture medium to the cell surface, prior to reaction. This article presents a method for determining fermentation parameters of a gaseous substrate in convenient batch vessels using a modified Monod model. The procedure is illustrated with experimental data for the conversion of carbon monoxide to acetate by the strict anaerobe Peptostreptococcus productus .