CBE 654 : BIOREACTOR ENGINEERING SEM 2 SESSION 2013/14

ASSIGNMENT 1 : QUESTION
(SUBMISSION DATELINE 4pm FRIDAY 20/6/2014)
A production-scale fermenter with a liquid volume of 150m3 needs to be sterilized to 1:1000
probability of contamination (or one per 1000 batch will be contaminated).
The medium was found to have a viable microbial cell count of 5x105 cells per ml.
Steam is available at 1210C, and a thermocouple located in the fermenter gives the
temperature-time data for the sterilization process is as in Table 1 below.
How long should the medium be held at the highest temperature so that the desired
probability of sterility is achieved with minimum loss of nutrient quality?
(3 Marks)
Table 1: Temperature-Time Data
TIME (minutes)

TEMPERATURE
25
77
102
119
121
121
106
92
81
71
63
56
49
39
25

0
10
20
30
32
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
150
190
Given additional information
(a) Arrhenius equation is given as:

k A. exp

Ea

RT

where

A
Ea
R
T

is Arrhenius constant
is activation Energy
is Universal Gas Constant
is temperature (K)
1

(b) The activation energy and Arrhenius constant of B. stearothermophilus spores as

follows:
Activation energy = 67.7 K cal. Mol-1 = 284.34 x 103 J. mol-1
Arrhenius constant = 1x1036.2 sec-1
(c) Universal gas constant R = 8.314472 J K-1 mol-1
(d) 0oC = 273.15 K