Computer Simulation of Growth Thermograms Observed for Microbial Cultures in a Batch Calorimeter

Abstract

Computer simulations were employed to reconstruct the growth thermograms that are observable for microbial cultures in batch calorimeters having a culture vessel in the calorimetric unit. Differential equations were derived to characterize the heat evolution process on the basis of Monod's growth equation with some modification. Theoretical growth thermograms were compared with actually observed calorimetric recordings and it was shown that the heat effect due to the microbial cells can be well reproduced for both non-growing and growing cultures of bakers' yeast. It is concluded that the method used here gives a reasonable characterization of the thermograms observed for microbial cultures in a batch calorimeter, indicating the possibility of determining the appropriate kinetic parameters from calorimeter recordings by a parameter-fitting method.