Mathematical modeling of an isothermal tubular bioreactor coupled with batch culture for ethanol production: a one‑dimensional approach

Journal Article

2024

Published in: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-06156-2

Alcohol fermentation in batch culture was carried out to determine the behavior of biomass transport phenomena along the
bioreactor. The applied methodology utilized both a one-dimensional theoretical modeling of biomass transfer in a tubular
bioreactor associated with alcohol fermentation in batch culture and an experimental approach based on a triplicate run.
The model’s predictions are validated against experimental data obtained from a real bioreactor system, demonstrating its
accuracy and reliability for practical applications. Furthermore, the model solution demonstrated that the converging of
biomass concentration in the 5-point nodal bioreactor depends on the values of the model parameters, namely the maximum
specific growth rate (μmax), the diffusivity coefficient (D), dimensionless coefficient (α) and reciprocal of doubling time (β).
The experimental results show that the distribution of biomass concentration along the reactor column is in the range between
3.40 and 3.62 gDW L−1 with an average value of about 3.52 gDW L−1. Furthermore, the average final ethanol concentration is
about 58 g L−1 after an average fermentation time of about 35 h and an average starting sugar concentration of about 65 g L−
1.

• Publication Work Type: Research paper
• Publisher Name: Springer-Verlag
• Publishing City: Germany