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Microorganisms or microbes are single-celled or multi-cellular organisms which are too small to be
viewed by our naked eye which maybe bacteria, archaea, protozoa, and some algae and fungi.
Microbial growth is the asexual reproduction, cell division, of most microorganisms (bacteria) into
two daughter cells, in a process called binary fission, which means that there will be no sex cells
involved. Providing no mutational event occurs, the resulting daughter cells are genetically identical
to the original cell. Growth implies that all chemical components of the cell increase with the same
speed and after a certain time this leads to increase in cell number, which causes increase in size or
Although there are many different biological species, it turns out that a very large fraction of the mass
these biological species are made of a few elements carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen; and these
Cells primarily are made up of water. Typically 70 percent of a cell’s mass is water and the remaining
is dry matter. Therefore it is conventional to express cell composition on a dry basis. . The
microorganism Escherichia coli are widely used in genetic engineering. Typical elements found
hydrogen total up to about 92% of the total mass of the cell in a dry weight basis. This observation for
1% DNA, 5 -15% RNA, and can contain Ash made up of P, K, Mg2+ and etc.
A microorganism can synthesize complex molecules from smaller units, this process is called
anabolism. Small units to amino acid to protein to sugars to carbohydrates to fatty acids to lipids to
nucleotides to DNA and RNA and so on and so forth (Arifin Y., 2014).
(…) C-source + (…) N-source + (…) P-source + (…) O-source → CHαOβNδ + (…) H2O + (…) CO2
A one mole of a biological material can compose 1 gram of carbon, C, such as CHON assuming no
cellular products are formed ather than water and carbon dioxide.
A simple biological conversion of a carbohydrate (CHmOn) with the presence of ammonia (NH3) and
oxygen (O2) to water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and a cell CHαOβNδ has the reaction given below:
Where: one mole of unknown carbohydrate (ChmOn) is given and an unknown number (b) of cellular
C : 1=c+e
H : m + 3b = cα + 2d
O : n + 2a = cβ + d + 2e
N : b = cδ
S :
equations above can be solved to determine the stoichiometric coefficients of the elements in the
reaction.
For many engineering calculations, it is reasonable to consider cell as a chemical species having the
formula CH1.8O0.5N0.2. This engineering approximation is a good starting point for many quantitative
analyses while a more carefully formulated empirical formula based on proximate analysis may be
necessary for complete material flow analysis. The cell molecular weight for the above cell formula is
Example:
Suppose we want to produce 10 g of cells using glucose as a carbon source. What is the minimum
Solution:
It is defined as the number of equivalents of available electrons per grams of atom (Yaacob M. N. D.,
2017).
Thermodynamically, energy is also needed for cell maintenance. And elemental balances provide no
insight into the energetics of a reaction. Here, catabolism enters. Catabolism generates energy for
anabolism and cell maintenance. It is consist of electron donor couple and electron accepter couple.
Example,
The catabolism of these reactions produces Gibbs energy. Concepts of catabolism have been used for
Degree of reduction is defined as the number of equivalents of available electrons per gram of atom.
Element γi
Carbon, C 4
Hydrogen, H 1
Oxygen, O -2
Nitrogen, N -3
Sulfur, S 6
Fe 3
+ charge -1
- charge 1
NH4+ as N-source -3
N2 as N-source 0
NO3- as N-source 5
For example:
γ = 24/6 = 4
γ = 8/1 = 8
γ = 12/2 =6
γ - balance is used to calculate stoichiometry. It follows from the conservation relations (C, H, O, N,
charge, etc.) by eliminating the unknown stoichiometric coefficient for reference compounds. It
relates biomass, substrate/donor, acceptor, product (H2O, H+, HCO3-, N – Source are always absent).
γ glucose = 24
γ ethanol = 12
Therefore, a = 2
Cell mass and product formation by microorganisms can be described quantitatively by yield
coefficients expressed as the mass of cells or product formed per unit mass of substrate consumed,
Yx/s, and Yp/s, for cells and product, respectively (J. Hong, 1988). And the above value is often called
cell yield, growth yield or yield coefficient. With the yield coefficients, the material balance equations
Let's consider the overall stoichiometric equation for growth and production:
N, nitrogen source
X, cell mass
P, product
The cell mass yield coefficient and the product yield coefficient are
Yx/s= Mx / sMs
Where: Mx, Mp, and Ms are the molecular weights of cell mass, product and carbon source
References:
http://wiki.biomine.skelleftea.se/wiki/index.php/Microbial_growth
http://www.gatewaycoalition.org/files/hidden/react/ch2/2_0f.htm
http://people.math.gatech.edu/~weiss/uploads/5/8/6/1/58618765/panikov_kinetics_microbial_gro
wth.pdf
http://slideplayer.com/slide/3404226/
Fermentation ppt
https://www.slideshare.net/pkdsshukla/fermentation-ppt-42822875
AND BIOTHERMODYNAMICS
https://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/C17/E6-58-04.pdf