Microbial Growth

Abstract

This chapter discusses microbial growth, and looks particularly at how microorganisms grow in liquid culture. The usefulness of microbes in biotechnology applications originates from their ability to convert low-cost substrates into higher-value products. The key to optimizing production is understanding how microbes interact with and grow in the substrates provided, and how microbial metabolism is linked to product formation. Moreover, yield and productivity are important parameters that can be determined from culture experiments. The chapter then looks at how to model bacterial growth in bioreactors before considering the differences between continuous cultures and fed-batch cultures. It then highlights the importance of productivity and maintenance in fermentation.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.1093/hesc/9780198822813.003.0002

Journal

Microbial Biotechnology

Year

2020