Question

PROBLEM 2: Electron Balances
An available electron balance can be used to analyze experiments in which biomass and lysine were produced in batch culture. Brevibacterium was cultured in a medium containing molasses, corn extract, and other nutrients [L.E. Erickson et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng., 20(10), 1623-1638, 1978]. Summarized below are measured values of biomass productivity, lysine productivity, and oxygen consumption rate measured over a 48 hour period.


Lysine: C6H14N2O2 Biomass productivity, ?X/?t = 0.260 g/(liter·hr) Lysine·HCl productivity, ?P/?t = 0.375 g/(liter·hr) O2 consumption rate, QO2 = 1.40 g/(liter·hr)


From these data, calculate the fraction of chemical energy in the organic substrate converted to heat, the fraction of chemical energy in the substrate converted to biomass, and the fraction of chemical energy in the substrate incorporated into extracellular product. In these calculations, assume that ?b = 4.25 and ?b = 0.480, where ?b is the weight fraction of carbon in dried biomass.

Answer 1