Abstract
The inhibitory effect of ammonia on the growth of the polychlorinated xenobiotic-degrading bacterium Mycobacterium chlorophenolicum was examined. The strain is inhibited by both the ionized and nonionized forms of ammonia. At pH 6.9 50% reduction of the growth rate was observed at 6.8 g l−1 total ammonium. For 23 experiments performed in shake-flask culture at different pH values and ammonium concentrations a growth model based on the extended Monod kinetic fits the data with a deviation of 5.3%. To overcome growth inhibition in bioreactors a pH-controlled feeding strategy was developed for effective cultivation of M. chlorophenolicum at an ammonium level below 0.3 g l−1. The ammonium addition was controlled on-line by the stoichiometric interdependence of ammonium consumption and pH decline. With this on-line control strategy a biomass concentration as high as 26.2 g l−1 can be achieved within less than 1 week of cultivation, compared to a biomass concentration of 15.5 g l−1 in normal batch culture after 2 weeks of cultivation. The yield is also increased from 0.32 g to 0.43 g biomass (g glucose)−1. The strategy developed provides an effective method for the production of biomass of M. chlorophenolicum serving as the inoculum in remediation technologies.
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Wittmann, C., Zeng, AP. & Deckwer, WD. Growth inhibition by ammonia and use of a pH-controlled feeding strategy for the effective cultivation of Mycobacterium chlorophenolicum . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 44, 519–525 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00169954
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00169954