Theoretical Analysis of the Application of Immobilized Cells to the Continuous Fermentation Process

This paper theoretically studies the continuous immobilized cell (IMC) fer mentation system. A kinetic model of IMC is established, and the relational expressions between production rate, substrate concentration, biomass concentration and dilution rate in the IMC continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) are derived. These equations and some numerical calculations show that as compared with the free cell system the IMC system has many advantages: high production rate, steady operation, and being independent of the dilution rote. They also indicate that the diffusion of substrate is a constraint to the production of metablite.