No replies to this topic

[rawky33A]

Hi all,

I'm trying to design a fermenter to produce Penicillin G. The specifications we have are:

Volume = 100m3 = 100000 l
Working Volume = 85m3 = 85000 l
Output Biomass concentration = 50g/l
Output Penicillin Concentration = 40g/l (Anyone who knows penicillin will know that these are extremely high, there are random haggard circumstances as to why but i'm just having to run with it)

In order to ferment this i'm using a media containing:
corn steep liquor (nitrogen source)
Glucose and rapeseed oil (carbon source +antifoam)
Sodium Phenylacetate (Precursors)
and water

Im getting a bit stuck during the mass balance, I've calculated the amount of glucose and oil i'll need for the process using yields of penicillin and biomass on substrate. I've calculated the required amount of Sodium Phenylacetate by assuming a 1:1 molar ratio between pen G and SPA and assuming total conversion (this is due to it being the only group providing the phenyl- part of the pen g molecule. I am having difficulty determining how much CSL to batch into the process as a nitrogen source and how much water to make it up with. I hope I have provided enough information and any questions please just ask. Any overarching help with these mass balances whould be much appreciated too.


Thanks in advance

Rawky