SIMULATION OF PENICILLIN PRODUCTION IN FED-BATCH CULTIVATIONS USING AMORPHOLOGICALLY STRUCTURED MODEL

A mathematical model is formulated to describe trends in biomass and p enicillin formation as well as substrate consumption for fed-batch cul tivations. The biomass is structured into three morphological compartm ents, and glucose and corn steep liquor are considered as substrates f or growth. Penicillin formation is assumed to take place in the subapi cal compartment and in the growing region of the hyphal compartment. F urthermore, it is inhibited by glucose. Model parameters are estimated using an evolutionary algorithm and fitting the model to a standard f ed-batch cultivation. The model is validated on experimental data from three different fed-batch cultivations, including two repeated fed-ba tch cultivations. The model predictions show good agreement with the m easurements of biomass and pencillin concentrations for all fed-batch cultivations. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.