Mathematical Modeling of Ethanol Production through Batch Fermentation of Glucose with Kluveromyces Marxianus

Abstract

Mathematical models are a means of representing essential aspects of reality (process, phenomenon, object, element, system, etc.) with the help of mathematical constructs. Mathematical models typically offer convenience and cost advantages over other means of obtaining the required information on reality. In the last decades, continuing progress has been observed in applications of mathematical modeling in biological growth. This research developed a mathematical model that illustrated the kinetics of ethanol production, incorporating both fermentation time and temperature from the batch fermentation of glucose with Kluveromyces Maxianus. Glucose biomass was found to decrease linearly with temperature rise and the modified Gompertz model was used to describe the ethanol production. The arhenious plot was used to illustrate the temperature dependence rate of the reaction. Matlab 9.0 and Microsoft Excel 2007 were the statistical software used for the iteration and the estimation of thebiological parameters. The derived mathematical model could be adapted to illustrate the kinetics of ethanol production to the stationary phase during the fermentation of glucose as influenced by temperature and fermentation time using Kluveromyces Maxianus.