Modeling Growth of Cellulomonas cellulans NRRL B 4567 under Substrate Inhibition During Cellulase Production

Cellulase production study was performed in shake flask and bioreactor system using Cellulomonas cellulans NRRL B 4567 for initial substrate concentration from gamma(S0) = 2 to 12 g L-1. The growth, substrate uptake profile and enzyme activity at different initial substrate concentrations were measured. The results inferred the presence of substrate inhibition kinetics. Various substrate inhibition models were tested and parameters were estimated, using non-linear regression analysis. Han-Levenspiel model was found to be the best fitted model for both shake flask and reactor study. The highest volumetric enzyme activity was observed at initial substrate concentration of gamma(S0) = 12 g L-1 and 4 g L-1 in shake flask and bioreactor respectively.