Summary
A special temperature control system has been developed and applied to continuous measuring of the heat evolved during a fermentation process. In this system, the fermentation broth was overcooled by a given constant cooling water flow. The excess heat removed from the fermentor was then made up by an immersion electrical heater. The action of the temperature controller was precisely monitored as it varied in response to the amount of heat produced by the microbial activities.
The technique was used for determining the heat evolution byEscherichia coli grown on glucose. The ratio between quantities of total heat release and total oxygen consumption has been determined to be 0.556 MJ/mol O2.
The newly developed technique can be employed as an online sensor to monitor the microbial activities of either aerobic or anaerobic fermentation systems.
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Abbreviations
- Cc :
-
Heat capacity of cooling water (MJ/kg · °C)
- Cp :
-
Heat capacity (MJ/kg · °C)
- I:
-
Current of immersion heater (A)
- K:
-
Constant in Equation (2) (h)
- K α :
-
Constant in Equation (13) (m3 · h · °C/MJ)
- Qc :
-
Flow rate of cooling water (m3/h)
- \(\dot Q_{agi} \) :
-
Heat of agitation (MJ/m3 · h)
- \(\dot Q_{agi} \) :
-
Heat dissipated by the bubbling gas (MJ/m3 · h)
- \(\dot Q_{con} \) :
-
Heat removal by the action of controller (MJ/m3 · h)
- \(\dot Q_{ferm} \) :
-
Heat of fermentation (MJ/m3 · h)
- \(\dot Q_{surr} \) :
-
Heat loss to the surroundings (MJ/m3 · h)
- Qpass :
-
Constant average power dissipated by the immersion heater (MJ/m3 · h)
- \(\bar Q_{pass} \) :
-
Fluctuating power dissipated by the immersion heater (MJ/m3 · h)
- \(\tilde Q_{pss} \) :
-
Power dissipated by the immersion heater (MJ/m3 · h)
- T:
-
Temperature of fermentation broth (°C)
- \(\bar T\) :
-
Constant average temperature of fermentation broth (°C)
- \(\tilde T\) :
-
Fluctuating temperature of fermentation broth (°C)
- Ta :
-
Temperature of the ambient air (°C)
- Tc :
-
Inlet temperature of cooling water (°C)
- U1A1 :
-
Specific heat transfer coefficient for determination of heat loss to the surroundings (MJ/m3 · h · °C)
- U2A2 :
-
Specific heat transfer coefficient for cooling surfaces (MJ/m3 · h · °C)
- U3A3 :
-
Constant in Equation (16) (MJ/m3 · h · °C)
- V:
-
Voltage of immersion heater (V)
- VL :
-
Liquid volume (m3)
- OUR:
-
Oxygen uptake rate (mol O2/m3 · h)
- ΔHfo :
-
The ratio between the total heat release and the total oxygen uptake (MJ/mol O2)
- ϱc :
-
Density of cooling water (kg/m3)
- Γ:
-
Time constant defined in Equation (6) (h)
- ∑iMiCpi :
-
Heat capacity of system components (fermentation broth + fermentor jar + stainless steel) (MJ/m3 · °C)
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Luong, J.H.T., Volesky, B. A new technique for continuous measurement of the heat of fermentation. European J. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 16, 28–34 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01008239
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01008239