Dynamics and operation analysis of the PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) fermentation

PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) is a biodegradable polymer that is gaining importance worldwide due to their applications. In this study, the PHB fermentation process is studied using sucrose as substrate and Azohydromonas australica as strain. A dynamic model of the isothermal reactor fermentation is used to calculate mainly product yield and productivity. Employing modelling and simulation tools, first a sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the parameter model dependence, then the model is used to analyse the dynamic effect of operation mode (batch or fed-batch). Results show a better performance for a fed-batch reactor and will be used in the short term for economic and environmental analyses of the production process.