Mathematical modeling and simulation of batch acetone- butanol fermentation with immobilized cells of Clostridium acetobutylicum

A comparative study of batch fermentation of butanol production is conducted to select the best carrier and the optimum conditions using a locally manufactured fermentor in an NRC workshop. A mathematical model describing this process was developed for 3 investigated cases ; free cells, immobilized cells using Ca-alginate and charcoal as carriers. The experimental results are used to determine the kinetic parameters of biocatalyst for the 3 mentioned cases: rsm = 50, 80 and 100 kg/m 3 .day and Cbmax = 15, 23 and 8 for free cells, immobilized on Ca-alginate and immobilized on charcoal cells respectively. The findings of this article show that the immobilized system of Ca-alginate carrier gives the maximum acetone-butanol production rate.