Department of Chemical and

Environmental Engineering
H83BCE Biochemical Engineering

EXAMPLE CLASS 1: ENZYME KINETICS

Question (1):
The aerobic production of acetic acid from ethanol proceeds as follows:

C2 H 5OH + O2

CH 3COOH + H 2O

Acetobacter aceti bacteria are added to a vigorously-aerated medium containing 15 g/litre of

ethanol. After some time, the ethanol concentration was found to be 1.88 g/litre, whilst the
acetic acid concentration was found to be 10.4 g/litre. How does the overall yield of acetic
acid from ethanol compare with the theoretical yield?

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Question (2):
The number of viable spores for a new genetically modified strain of E. coli is measured as a
function of time at various temperatures.
Time
(min)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
3.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
9.0

85
2.40 x 109
2.39 x 109
2.37 x 109
2.34 x 109
2.33 x 109
2.32 x 109
2.28 x 109
2.20 x 109
2.19 x 109
2.16 x 109

Temperature (C)
90
110
2.40 x 109
2.40 x 109
2.38 x 109
1.08 x 109
2.30 x 109
4.80 x 108
9
2.29 x 10
2.20 x 108
9
2.23 x 10
1.04 x 108
9
2.17 x 10
9.85 x 107
9
2.11 x 10
2.01 x 107
9
1.95 x 10
4.41 x 106
1.87 x 109
1.62 x 105
9
1.79 x 10
6.88 x 103

120
2.40 x 109
2.05 x 107
1.75 x 105
1.30 x 103

(a)

What are the specific death constants at the temperatures studied?

(b)

Determine the time taken for the number of spores to fall by half at the
temperatures used.

(c)

What is the activation energy for thermal death of this new bacteria strain?

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