GROWTH-KINETICS OF SINGLE-CELL PROTEIN IN BATCH FERMENTERS

Liquid phase aerobic batch cultures have been undertaken with Candida utilis on glucose, the limiting substrate. The system variables investigated include agitation speed, glucose concentration, air flow rate, inoculum dosage and temperature. The growth kinetics have been analysed using three kinetic approaches, namely, the Monod, Levenspiel and Teissier methods. The maximum specific growth rate, mu(max), was found to increase with agitation, temperature and inoculum dosage. It was also found that the lag phase of the curve increases with initial sugar concentration and decreases with increasing inoculum dosage and agitation speed.