The continuous culture performance of a custom designed cell-retention (CR) bioreactor prototype was investigated for the acetone - butanol - ethanol (A-B-E) fermentation by Clostridium acetobutylicum. / A mathematical model for the kinetics of the A-B-E fermentation was developed reflecting the biochemical pathway and culture behaviour. Dynamic and steady-state behaviour of C. acetobutylicum in the CR bioreactor was simulated on the computer and experimentally tested. / In an operational mode with a total cell-retention, a steady-state operation of the bioreactor was predicted up to 52 g/L of sugar in the feed stream. The sugar was completely utilized. Experiments confirmed the suitability of the model and its predictions including the independence of the key process parameter concentrations from the dilution rate. / For the feed sugar concentration in excess of 52 g/L an unsteady-state fermentation system behaviour was predicted by computer simulation and an oscillatory performance of the bioreactor was observed experimentally. Additional bleeding of the whole cell broth from the fermentor resulted in stabilizing the bioreactor performance.

No description available.