ChE 514A: Biochemical Engineering Cell Kinetics GSDV

PROBLEMS ON CELL KINETICS:

1. [Ex. 11-1/P.561, Bioprocess Engineering: Kinetics, Biosystems, Sustainability, and Reactor Design
by Shijie Liu] A strain of mold was grown in a batch culture on glucose and the following data
were obtained as shown in the table.
Time, h Cell concentration, g/L Glucose concentration, g/L
0 1.0 50.0
10 1.5 48.5
18 2.9 45.2
25 5.5 38.8
33 11.4 24.0
37 16.3 11.8
40 19.2 4.5
44 20.9 0.3
Do the following:
a. Calculate the maximum net specific growth rate.
b. Calculate the apparent growth yield.
c. What maximum cell concentration could one expect if 150 g/L of glucose were used with
the same size inoculum?
d. How many generations of cells are there in the culture for part (c)?
2. [Problem 11.1/p. 601, Bioprocess Engineering: Kinetics, Biosystems, Sustainability, and Reactor
Design by Shijie Liu] A simple, batch fermentation of an aerobic bacterium growing on methanol
gave the results shown on the table.
Time, h X, g/L S, g/L Time, h X, g/L S, g/L
0 0.20 9.23 12 3.20 4.60
2 0.21 9.21 14 5.60 0.92
4 0.31 9.07 16 6.15 0.08
8 0.98 8.03 18 6.20 0
10 1.77 6.80
Calculate:
a. Maximum growth rate, µmax
b. Yield on substrate, YX/S
c. Mass doubling time, td
d. Saturation constant, KS
e. Specific growth rate (µnet) at t = 10 h
3. [Ex 11.8, Bioprocess Engineering Principles by Doran] A mouse-mouse hybridoma cell line is
used to produce monoclonal antibody. Growth in batch culture is monitored with the following
results.
Time (d) Cell concentration (cells/mL x10-6)
0.0 0.45
0.2 0.52
0.5 0.65
1.0 0.81
1.5 1.22
2.0 1.77
2.5 2.13

1
ChE 514A: Biochemical Engineering Cell Kinetics GSDV

3.0 3.55
3.5 4.02
4.0 3.77
4.5 2.20
a. Determine the specific growth rate during the growth phase.
b. What is the culture doubling time?
4. Escherichia coli grows with a doubling time of 0.5 h in the exponential growth phase. (a) What is
the value of the specific growth rate? (b) How much time would be required to grow the cell
culture from 0.1 kg dry cell/m3 to 10 kg dry cell/m3?
5. E. coli grows from 0.10 kg dry cell/m3 to 0.50 kg dry cell/m3 in 1 h. (a) Assuming exponential
growth during this period, evaluate the specific growth rate. (b) Evaluate the doubling time
during the exponential growth phase. (c) How much time would be required to grow from 0.10
kg dry cell/m3to 1.0 kg dry cell/m3? You may assume the exponential growth during this period.
6. Escherichia coli is being used for production of recombinant porcine growth hormone. The
bacteria are grown aerobically in batch culture with glucose as growth-limiting substrate. Cell
and substrate concentrations are measured as a function of culture time; the results are listed
below.
Time Cell concentration, X Substrate Concentration
h Kg/m3 Kg/m3
0.0 0.20 25.0
0.33 0.21 24.8
0.5 0.22 24.8
0.75 0.32 24.6
1.0 0.47 24.3
1.5 1.00 23.3
2.0 2.10 20.7
2.5 4.42 15.7
2.8 6.9 10.2
3.0 9.4 5.2
3.1 10.9 1.65
3.2 11.6 0.2
3.5 11.7 0.0
3.7 11.6 0.0

(a) Plot u as a function of time.

(b) What is the value of umax ?
(C) What is the observed biomass yield from substrate? Is Y X/S constant?