A multikinetic model approach to predict gluconic acid production in an airlift bioreactor.

This paper uses a multikinetic approach to predict gluconic acid (GA) production performance in a 4.5 L airlift bioreactor (ALBR). The mathematical model consists of a set of simultaneous firstorder ordinary differential equations obtained from material balances of cell biomass, GA, glucose, and dissolved oxygen. Multikinetic models, namely, logistic and contois equations constitute kinetic part of the main model. The main model also takes into account the hydrodynamic and mass transfer parameters. These equations were solved using ODE solver of MATLAB v6.5 software. The mathematical model was validated with the experimental data available in the literature and is used to predict the effect of change in initial biomass and air sparging rate on the GA production. It is concluded that the mathematical model incorporated with multikinetic approach would be more efficient to predict the change in operating parameters on overall bioprocess of GA production in an ALBR.