Process Biotechnology
  

Environmental Biotechnology
Electronic Journal of Biotechnology ISSN: 0717-3458 Vol. 11 No. 1, Issue of January 15, 2008
© 2008 by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile Received April 23, 2007 / Accepted October 2, 2007
DOI: 10.2225/vol11-issue1-fulltext-15
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Oxygen mass transfer studies on batch cultivation of P. aeruginosa in a biocalorimeter

Senthilkumar Sivaprakasam
 Thermochemical Lab
Chemical Engineering Department
Central Leather Research Institute
Adyar, Chennai – 20
Tamilnadu, India
Tel: 91 44 2491706
Fax: 91 44 24912150
E-mail: senthil2k1in@yahoo.co.in 

Surianarayanan Mahadevan*
 Thermochemical Lab
Chemical Engineering Department
Central Leather Research Institute
Adyar, Chennai - 20
Tamilnadu, India
Tel: 91 44 2491706
Fax: 91 44 24912150
E-mail: msuri1@vsnl.com 

Swaminathan Gopalaraman
 Chemical Engineering Department
Central Leather Research Institute
Adyar, Chennai - 20
Tamilnadu, India
Tel: 91 44 2491706
Fax: 91 44 24912150
E-mail: chamu_19@yahoo.com

*Corresponding author

Financial support: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Fellowship.

Keywords: biocalorimeter, metabolic heat, P. aeruginosa, scale-up, volumetric mass transfer coefficient.

Abbreviations:

DO: dissolved oxygen
OTR: oxygen transfer rate
OUR: oxygen uptake rate
Abstract   Full Text

In the present work volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) was investigated during batch cultivations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on a nutrient media. The effects of process variables (viz. impeller speed, oxygen flow and geometry of impeller) on the volumetric mass transfer coefficient of oxygen, kLa, in a biocalorimeter (Bio-RC1) was investigated and reported in this research work. The experimental data have been analyzed employing MATLAB to obtain the influences of the process parameters on kLa. An attempt was made to correlate volumetric mass transfer coefficient with metabolic heat production rate at optimized process conditions. The correlation reported in this work would be useful to control and scale up of bioprocesses.
Supported by UNESCO / MIRCEN network