Summary
Immobilized cell technology frequently relies on the entrapment of the biomass in a gel particle, and it is generally observed that mass transfer limitations within the gel particle lead to nonuniform cell distribution. This note addresses the consequence of maintaining a very high cell mass density within a biopolymer particle. We illustrate that conventional effectiveness factor calculations can be used to determine particle sizes which would avoid nonuniform cell growth. The analysis is based on simple Monod kinetics. Special attention is given to near zero order kinetic systems in which the effectiveness factor remains high although the limiting nutrient may be depleted near the center of the particle.
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Mina Dalili is at the Department of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University
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Dalili, M., Chau, P.C. Intraparticle diffusional effects in immobilized cell particles. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 26, 500–506 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00253021
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00253021