Abstract

OCAMPO-LOPEZ, Carlos; COLORADO-ARIAS, Santiago  and  RAMIREZ-CARMONA, Margarita. Modeling of microbial growth and ammonia consumption at different temperatures in the production of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymer. J. appl. res. technol [online]. 2015, vol.13, n.5, pp.498-503. ISSN 2448-6736.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jart.2015.10.001.

Modeling of microbial growth and ammonia consumption at different temperatures was developed in the production of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymer in Pseudomona fluorescens in the range of 25-35 °C. A logistic model was employed to predict accurately the microbial growth limiting conditions of nitrogen. A new model based in a mixed mathematical equation comprising a logistic model, and a magnetic saturation model resulted appropriate to estimate the ammonia consumption under limiting conditions. Favorable conditions for PHA production in P. fluorescens were found at temperature of 30 °C, reaching the maximum biomass concentration of 2.83 g L−1, and consuming 99.9% of the initial ammonia, to produce 2.13 g L−1 of PHA. The proposed models could be useful to predict the behavior of a fermentation process to produce PHA in real time.

Keywords : PHA; Modeling; Temperature effect; Ammonia consumption; Microbial growth.

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