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Computer simulation elucidates yeast flocculation and sedimentation for efficient industrial fermentation.

Author
Abstract
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Flocculation plays an important role in the immobilized fermentation of biofuels and biochemicals. It is essential to understand the flocculation phenomenon at physical and molecular scale; however, flocs can't be studied directly due to fragile nature. Hence, the present study was focused on the morphological specificities of yeast flocs formation and sedimentation via the computer simulation by a single floc growth model, based on Diffusion-Limited Aggregation (DLA) model. The impact of shear force, adsorption, and cell propagation on porosity and floc size was systematically illustrated. Strong shear force and weak adsorption reduced floc size but had little impact on porosity. Besides, cell propagation concreted the compactness of flocs enabling them to gain a larger size. Later, a multiple flocs growth model was developed to explain sedimentation at various initial floc sizes. Both models exhibited qualitative agreements with available experimental data. By regulating the operation constraints during fermentation, the present study will lead to finding optimal conditions to control the floc size distribution for efficient fermentation and harvesting.

Year of Publication
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2018
Journal
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Biotechnology journal
Date Published
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2018
ISSN Number
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1860-6768
DOI
:
10.1002/biot.201700697
Short Title
:
Biotechnol J
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