Presented by :

KRISHNA KUMAR KESHARI

(2014BT15)
ASHWANI KUMAR (2014BT14)

Introduction
Cell growth obeys the law of conservation of

matter.
All atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and other
elements consumed during growth are incorporated into
new cells or excreted as products.
Confining our attention to those compounds taken up or
produced in significant quantity, if the only extracellular
products formed are CO2 and H20, we can write the
following equation for aerobic cell growth:

Cells + medium + O2 (sometimes)

more cells + product + CO2 + H2O

IMPORTANCE
Metabolic stoichiometry (elemental balance) has

many applications in bioprocessing: as well as in mass

and energy balances, it can be used to compare
theoretical and actual product yields, check the
consistency of experimental fermentation data, and
formulate nutrient medium.

 In a very simplistic interpretation of metabolism, ,

we can write the following equation to
demonstrate the elemental balance :--- CwHxOyNz+ a O2 + b HgOhNi c CHaObNd + dH2O + eCO2
substrate

nitrogen
source

dry biomass

Where
CwHxOyNz is the chemical formula for the substrate (e.g. for

glucose w = 6, x = 12, y = 6 and z = 0).

HgOhNi is the chemical formula for the nitrogen source.
CHaObNd is the chemical 'formula' for dry biomass.
a, b, c, d and e are stoichiometric coefficients.

Stoichiometric Calculation
Coefficients can be evaluated using normal
procedures for balancing equations, i.e. elemental
balances and solution of simultaneous equations
C balance:
H balance:
O balance:

N balance:

w=c+e
x + bg = ca + 2 e.
y+ 2a+ bh = cb + 2d + e
z + bi = cd

Some basic terms

Yields and yield coefficients.

Y (output / input)
UNIT - g/g

1. Biomass Yield from substrate ie.

Y(x/s)

Y(x/o )
3. Product yield from substrate ie. Y(p/s)
2. Biomass Yield from O2 ie.

Some basic terms

Respiratory quotient
RQ =moles CO2 produced /moles O2
consumed
= YCO2/O2
Provides information on the metabolic state of the cell.
A high RQ means that much CO2 is produced and

hence the metabolism is operating at high efficiency.

Some basic terms

Degree of reduction :
Defined as the number of equivalents of available electrons

in that quantity of material containing 1 g atom carbon.

Therefore, for substrate CwHxOyNz , the number of available
electrons is
(4w + x- 2y - 3z).
The degree of reduction for the substrate, Ys, is therefore
= (4w + x - 2y - 3z)/w.
Degree of reduction for CO2, H2O and NH3 is zero.

Example
Q. Production of single-cell protein from hexadecane is
described by the following reaction equation:
C16H34+ a O2 + b NH3 c CH1.66O0.27N.20 + dH2O + eCO2
where CH1.66O0.27N.20 represents the biomass. If RQ=
0.43, determine the stoichiometric coefficients, degree
of reduction, Y(x/s),if 0.5 substrate is converted
into biomass .

Solution
C balance:

16 = c+ d
-------------------- (1)
H balance: 34 + 3b= 1.66 c + 2e --------- (2)
O balance: 2a=0.27 c + 2d + e ------------(3)
N balance: b = 0.20 c --------------------(4)
RQ: 0.43 = d/a. ---------------------------(5)

Solution
By calculating eq. 1,2,3,4 & 5 ;

we will find --------------Stoichiometric coefficients.

a = 12.48
b = 2.13
c = 10.64.
d = 5.37
e = 11.36.

Solution
Degree of reduction

The degree of reduction for the substrate, Ys, is

= (4 16 + 34) /16
= 6.125

Solution
Biomass Yield from substrate ie.

Y(x/s) = g cells produced

/g substrate

consumed
= 0.5 (12 + 1 1.66 + 16 0.27 + 14 0.20)
(12 16 + 1 34)
= 0.1028 g/g

REFERANCES:
P.M. Doran

THANK YOU