%A P R Patnaik
%O Copyright of this article belongs to Sprinegr science.
%J Bioprocess Engineering
%T Transient sensitivity analysis of a cybernetic model of microbial growth on two substrates
%X When a microbe has a choice of two substrates for its growth in a fermentation medium, its preference varies with the substrates and with time. This "informed" choice is conveniently expressed by cybernetic models. For the growth of Klebsiella oxytoca in a medium of glucose and lactose, a one-parameter cybernetic model of growth has been employed in a batch bioreactor to analyse sensitivity of the fermentation to perturbations in the parameter, ! (0 h ! h 1). The sensitivity surfaces in the (!-time) space show interesting variations which are discussed. An important observation is that while growth is best promoted with !=1, i.e. sequential consumption of the substrates [8], low sensitivities require smaller values of !, i.e. simultaneous utilisation. Thus, in a realistic operation it may be necessary to compromise between high growth (with subsequent high productivity) and low sensitivity.

%N 2
%P 135
%V 21
%D 1999
%I Springer Science
%R doi:10.1007/s004490050653
%L open808