Intensification of bacterial cellulose production process with sequential electromagnetic field exposure aided by dynamic modelling

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural polymer produced by acetic acid bacteria, e.g. Komagataeibacter xylinus. BC is often preferred over plant cellulose and finds many medicinal and environmental protection applications thanks to its high purity, water holding capacity, tensile strength, and biocompatibility. This work is aimed to test the sequential exposure of the rotating magnetic field (RMF) on the BC static production process, aimed to reduce the energetic cost of production. The increased values of optical density, metabolic activity, fructose, ethanol, citric acid uptake, and wet and dry mass of produced BC were observed after seven days of processing under the action of RMF compared to the control conditions (without RMF). Also, it was found that the RMF exposure altered the acetic acid production. Results proved that this approach could be successfully utilised to stimulate BC production. A mathematical model connecting BC production with cell growth was created using Laplace transform approach. Such a model was built using a block structure in Matlab Simulink. Data suggested that a properly selected forcing function can accurately predict BC production, even for various cultivation conditions, by employing a created dynamic model.