MATHEMATICAL-MODELING OF INDUSTRIAL PILOT-PLANT PENICILLIN-G FED-BATCH FERMENTATIONS

Penicillin-G fermentation with industrial media in 1 m(3) stirred tank bioreactors was studied. A model based on the Bajpai-Reuss model stru cture was developed. Under typical production conditions catabolite re pression is nonidentifiable and extensive mycelium differentiation occ urs. Thus, the original model was reformulated, neglecting glucose rep ression of penicillin production and including biomass autolysis. The multi-substrate nature of industrial media was critically analysed. By combining the two most important carbon substrates present, a simple and applicable model was obtained. Model predictions agreed well with experimental data and reproduced the general characteristics observed in the fermentations. The predictive power of the model was tested for fermentations with different sugar feed rate profiles and raw materia ls (corn-steep liquor and sugar syrup). Several aspects of parameter e stimation and model development are discussed on the basis of direct e xperimental data inspection and a sensitivity analysis of model parame ters.