Details

The solubility of oxygen in aqueous solutions at ambient temperature and pressure is only between 8 and 10 ppm. This amount of oxygen is quickly consumed in aerobic cultures and must be constantly replaced by sparging (bubbling air through the liquid) [1].

Notation:

: substrate concentration (g/L)

: product concentration (g/L)

: dissolved oxygen concentration (mg/L)

: saturation dissolved oxygen concentration (mg/L)

: critical dissolved oxygen concentration (mg/L)

: substrate uptake rate (g/L h)

The transfer coefficient varies with and according to:

with .

The model that includes reaction kinetics and mass balances is described in [2].

References

[1] P. M. Doran, Bioprocess Engineering Principles, Boston: Elsevier, 1995.

[2] I. J. Dunn, E. Heinzle, J. Ingham and J. E. Prvenosil, Biological Reaction Engineering, 2nd ed., Weinheim, Germany: VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2003.