Application of a Data Reconciliation Method to the Stoichiometric Analysis of Fibrobacter succinogenes Growth

Fibrobacter succinogenes S85, a strictly anaerobic Gram-negative bacterium, was grown in continuous culture in a bioreactor at different dilution rates (0.02 to 0.092 h(-1)) on a fully synthetic culture medium with glucose as carbon source. Glucose and ammonium sulfate consumption, as well as biomass, succinate, acetate, formate, and carbohydrate production were regularly measured. The relevant biomass elemental compositions were established for each dilution rate. Robustness of the experimental information was checked by C and N mass balances estimation, which were satisfactory. A detailed overall stoichiometry analysis of the process, including all substrates and products of the culture, was proposed. Online and off-line parameters measured during the culture brought a large number of data which were weighted by their respective variance associated to the measured value. The material balance resulted in an overdetermined linear system of equations made of weighted relationships including experimental data, elemental balances (C, H, O, N, S, Na), and an additional constraint. The mass balances involved in stoichiometric equations were solved using data reconciliation and linear algebra methods to take into account error measurements. This methodology allowed to establish the overall stoichiometric equation for each dilution rate studied.     

Dynamic Aspects and Controllability of the MELiSSA Project: A Bioregenerative System to Provide Life Support in Space

Manmade ecosystems differ from their prototype biosphere by the principle of control. The Earth Biosphere is sustainable by stochastic control and very large time constants. By contrast, in a closed ecosystem such as the micro-ecological life support system alternative (MELiSSA system) developed by the European Space Agency for space exploration, a deterministic control is a prerequisite of sustainable existence. MELiSSA is an integrated sum of interconnected biological subsystems. On one hand, all unit operations in charge of the elementary functions constitutive of the entire life support system are studied until a thorough understanding and mathematical modelling. On the other hand, the systemic approach of complex, highly branched systems with feedback loops is performed. This leads to study in the same perspective, with the same degree of accuracy and with the same language, waste degradation, water recycling, atmosphere revitalisation and food production systems prior to the integration of knowledge-based control models. This paper presents the mathematical modelling of the MELiSSA system and the interface between the control strategy of the entire system and the control of the bioreactors.     

Interpretation of static and dynamic responses of a dissolved oxygen electrode in viscous broths

The response of an amperometric oxygen electrode is studied theoretically and experimentally for the case of significant liquid film resistance at the outer side of the membrane. The behaviour of the probe in a gas stream is predicted by using a transfer function which involves an electrode model including oxygen diffusion within the electrode. The effects of the liquid film which exists at the membrane surface when dissolved oxygen concentrations are measured, are taken into account by modifying the transfer function. The new expression obtained is used to model the step response of the probe in a 2-1 stirred tank fermentor filled with water or xanthane solutions at different concentrations. First, the results are used to correct automatically the steady-state voltage readings of the probe. Secondly, the probe transfer function is used to evaluate k₁a by dynamic measurements: the response to a step change in the gas concentration is transformed via the fast Fourier transform algorithm and k₁a is identified in the Fourier domain by a Gauss-Newton algorithm. Data acquisition, Fourier transform and k₁a identification are implemented on-line on a HP-87 computer. This method of obtaining k₁a values appears to be a generalized moment method. It is shown that it is necessary to consider the liquid film dynamics around the probe in the actual fermenting conditions to evaluate k₁a successfully.     

Axenic Cultures of Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradskyi in Autotrophic Conditions: a New Protocol for Kinetic Studies

As a part of a natural biological N-cycle, nitrification is one of the steps included in the conception of artificial ecosystems designed for extraterrestrial life support systems (LSS) such as Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA) project, which is the LSS project of the European Space Agency. Nitrification in aerobic environments is carried out by two groups of bacteria in a two-step process. The ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrosomonas europaea) realize the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite, and the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrobacter winogradskyi), the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate. In both cases, the bacteria achieve these oxidations to obtain an energy and reductant source for their growth and maintenance. Furthermore, both groups also use CO₂ predominantly as their carbon source. They are typically found together in ecosystems, and consequently, nitrite accumulation is rare. Due to the necessity of modeling accurately conversion yields and transformation rates to achieve a complete modeling of MELiSSA, the present study focuses on the experimental determination of nitrogen to biomass conversion yields. Kinetic and mass balance studies for axenic cultures of Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradskyi in autotrophic conditions are performed. The follow-up of these cultures is done using flow cytometry for assessing biomass concentrations and ionic chromatography for ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate concentrations. A linear correlation is observed between cell count and optical density (OD) measurement (within a 10?% accuracy) validating OD measurements for an on-line estimation of biomass quantity even at very low biomass concentrations. The conversion between cell count and biomass concentration has been determined: 7.1?×?10¹² cells g dry matter (DM)^?1 for Nitrobacter and 6.3?×?10¹² cells g DM^?1 for Nitrosomonas. Nitrogen substrates and products are assessed redundantly showing excellent agreement for mass balance purposes and conversion yields determination. Although the dominant phenomena are the oxidation of NH ₄ ⁺ into nitrite (0.95?mol?mol N^?1 for Nitrosomonas europaea within an accuracy of 3?%) and nitrite into nitrate (0.975?mol?mol N^?1 for Nitrobacter winogradskyi within an accuracy of 2?%), the Nitrosomonas europaea conversion yield is estimated to be 0.42?g DM mol?N^?1, and Nitrobacter winogradskyi conversion yield is estimated to be 0.27?g DM mol?N^?1. The growth rates of both strains appear to be dominated by the oxygen transfer into the experimental setups.     

Activity coefficients of concentrated strong and weak electrolytes by a hydration equilibrium and group contribution model

A new speciation-based group contribution model for activity coefficients is proposed to estimate the equilibrium properties of aqueous solutions containing electrolytes. The chemical part of the model accounts for the hydration equilibrium of water and ions with the formation of ion n-water complexes in a single stage process; the hydration number n and the hydration equilibrium constant K are the two independent parameters in this part. The physical part of the model is the UNIFAC group contribution model for short-range interactions. Each ion is considered as a group. Long-range interactions are accounted for by a Pitzer contribution (Debye–Hückel theory). The model is compared with experimental data at 25 °C including water activity, osmotic coefficients, activity coefficients, and pH of binary diluted and concentrated electrolyte solutions (up to 20 mol kg⁻¹ for NaOH, 16 mol kg⁻¹ for HCl, etc.).