Mathematical Modelling of Bioethanol Fermentation From Glucose, Xylose or Their Combination – A Review

Abstract

AbstractBioethanol fermentation kinetic studies are described with effective aspects of, but not limited to, substrate limitation, oxygen limitation, substrate inhibition, product inhibition, and cell death. The majority of these studies have used Saccharomyces cerevisiae and regular mathematical modelling in the form of unstructured unsegregated kinetic modelling. In this paper, the bioethanol fermentation kinetics of pentoses or hexoses or their combination are reviewed. The modes of culture (e.g., batch and continuous), microorganisms used, process conditions, and equations including various effective aspects are discussed. The kinetic models giving the best fit to the experimental data were proposed by the Ghaly and EL‐Taweel as well as Hjersted and Henson. The results showed better agreement between modelling and experiment on using simpler equations which consider the three important effective aspects: substrate limitation, substrate inhibition and product inhibition when grown in the standard growth medium. However, more complex equations show a better fit when the optimum temperature is unclear, co‐culturing is employed, or when growth conditions deviate from standard media and process conditions.