Flow calorimetry and dielectric spectroscopy to control the bacterial conversion of toxic substrates into polyhydroxyalcanoates

Uta Breuer, Thomas Maskow, Dayo Olomolaiye, Richard Bernard Kemp

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The microbial conversion of toxic substrates into valuable products in continuous culture requires the equivalent of a tight rope walk between formation of the desired product and intoxication of the microbial catalyst. The condition of the latter is reflected immediately by changes in heat flow rate and -dispersion in an electrical RF field. Therefore, these were applied to the example of the continuous growth-associated synthesis of polyhydroxyalcanoates (PHA) from phenol by the bacterial strain Variovorax paradoxus DSM 4065. By controlling the supply of phenol to the chemostat, the rates of degradation, biomass formation, and synthesis of target product, respectively, were increasingly elevated until the onset of poisoning the organisms. The boundary between the maximum rates and the initiation of intoxication coincided with a sudden change in the heat flux. Using this occurrence, it was possible to develop a control strategy and test it successfully for a time period of 80 h. After 40 h the process stabilized at mean values, i.e., at rates of 92% phenol degradation, 100% biomass formation, and 70 - 75% of PHA formation compared with the situation shortly before poisoning the organisms. Using a moving-average technique to filter the raw dielectric spectroscope data, changes were followed in biomass concentration of approximately 100 mg/L. However, this technique was not sensitive or rapid enough to control the process
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)547-552
Number of pages6
JournalBiotechnology and Bioengineering
Volume85
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Mar 2004

Keywords

  • chemostat
  • flow calorimetry
  • dielectric spectroscopy
  • polyhydroxyalcanoates (PHA)
  • phenol
  • Variovorax paradoxus DSM 4065

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