PROBLEMS ON CELL KINETICS:

1. A chemostat study was performed with yeast. The medium flow rate was varied and the steady-
state concentration of cells and glucose in the fermenter were measured and recorded. The
inlet concentration of glucose was set at 100 g/L. The volume of the fermenter contents was 500
mL. The inlet stream was sterile.

a. Find the rate equation for cell growth.

b. What should be the range of the flow rate to prevent washout of the cells?
2. The growth rate of E. coli in synthetic medium can be expressed by Monod kinetics as

where Cs is the concentration of a limiting substrate, glucose. You are going to cultivate E. coli in
a steady-state CSTF (working volume: 10 L) with a flow rate of 7 L/hr. The initial substrate
concentration is 10 g/L and the cell yield constant (YX/S ) is 0.6. The feed stream is sterile.
a. What will be the doubling time and the division rate of the cells in the CSTF?
b. What will be the cell and substrate concentrations of the outlet stream?
3. [From Bioprocess Engineering: Kinetics, Biosystems, Sustainability, and Reactor Design by
ShijieLiu]
A strain of mold was grown in a batch culture on glucose and the following data were obtained
as shown in the table. 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 of glucose were used with
the same size inoculum?
d. How many generations of cells are there in the culture for part (c)?
4. A simple, batch fermentation of an aerobic bacterium growing on methanol gave the results
shown on the table. Calculate:
a. Maximum growth rate, µmax
b. Specific growth rate of the cells, YX/S
c. Mass doubling time, td
d. Saturation constant, KS
e. Specific growth rate, µnet at t = 10 h

5. A mouse-mouse hybridoma cell line is used to produce monoclonal antibody. Growth in batch
culture is monitored with the following results.
a. Determine the specific growth rate during the growth phase.
b. What is the culture doubling time?

6. The data in Table P11.4 were obtained for

the effect of temperature on the
fermentative production of lactic acid by a
strain of Lactobacillus delbruekii. From
these data, calculate the value of the
activation energy for this process.
7. 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?
8. 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.
9. 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.
a. Plot u as a function of time.
b. What is the value of umax ? (use linear
regression)
c. What is the observed biomass yield
from substrate? Is YX/S constant?