Characterization of Transient Cultures of Clostridium acetobutylicum

Abstract

The inability of unstructured mathematical models to acknowledge complex intracellular physiological changes limits their applicability for dynamic culture growth conditions. By considering RNA as a bottleneck growth‐limiting compound, a structured model was developed to describe the transient and steady‐state growth of Clostridium acetobutylicum. The linear relationship between the on‐line NADH fluorescence and the sugar utilization specific rates was incorporated in the mathematical model to facilitate in situ assessment of the culture metabolic activity. The improved performance of the proposed structured model was demonstrated. It simulated the transient culture metabolism better than the unstructured Monod model. However, it still failed to simulate the metabolic switchover between acidogenic and solventogenic Clostridium culture behavior.