Studies on a kinetic model for butyric acid bioproduction by Clostridium butyricum

Abstract

Aims: This paper discusses the establishment of a kinetic model for cell growth, butyric acid production and substrate consumption of Clostridium butyricum ZJUCB in batch cultivation.

Methods and results: Mathematic simulations were proposed by the logistic equation for the cell growth, the Luedeking-Piret equation for butyric acid production and the Luedeking-Piret-like equation for glucose consumption.

Conclusion: We compared the performance of our model against that obtained by the empirically experimental design. The experiment-validated model was found suitable for studying butyric acid fermentation kinetics in a complex dynamic behaviour of C. butyricum, especially for its singular growth phenomenon.

Significance and impact of the study: The model parameters are estimated from the data fitting and evaluated for simulation of the time courses of the concentrations of cell biomass, butyric acid and glucose and the model appears to fit the experimental data well. The results may be useful for butyric acid production by microbial fermentation.