Course manager

Kresten Kromphardt

Semester schedule

Autumn (3-week period in August)

ECTS

5

Language of instruction

English 

Course type

Elective

Qualifications

Competences corresponding to participation in the courses Fermentation, Project 3 Applied Fermentation and Practical Control and Instrumentation - are recommended.  

Objectives

The objective of the course is to enable the students to design and operate fed batch and chemostat fermentations. To enable the students to do this course will use both theoretical lectures and practical sessions, to exemplify fed-batch and chemostat operation and control. The students should also be able to evaluate the status and possible troubleshooting of a running fermentation, based on the standard on-line measurements done on an industrial fermentation.

Content

• Fed-batch and chemostat setup, operation, and control
• Media formulation of fed-batch fermentations
• Microbial kinetics of fed-batch fermentations  
• CER, OUR and RQ as operational parameters in fed batch operation.
• In-line, on-line and off-line data from fermentations
• Monitoring of fed-batch and chemostat fermentations

Learning targets

On completion of the course, the student is expected to be able to:

Knowledge

• Describe how CER, OUR and RQ can be used to describe overflow metabolism in a running fermentation
• Describe how different strategies of media formulation in fed-batch operation and what may be the advantages or disadvantages of the different strategies
• Describe the kinetics and progression of a feed-batch fermentation and how these differ from batch and chemostat kinetics

Skills

• Calculations pertaining to the design of fermentation media and determining the consequence of changing a component in a medium, e.g. utilizing a different carbon or nitrogen source
• Perform set-up and control fed-batch and chemostst fermentation in lab scale
• Utilize on-line data in the monitoring and control of a feed-batch and chemostat fermentation  

Competences

• Evaluate the state of a fermentation based on available on-line data measurements of a fermentation and, on the bases of this data, design control strategies to ensure optimal operation of a fermentation
• Discuss fermentation data from a feed-batch and chemostat fermentation and evaluate possibillities of optimizing the performance of the fermentation based on collected data
• Idenfify possible issues with a running fermentation besed on on-line fermentation data and propose possible actions and strategies to identify or alleviate these issues

Teaching method

Seminars, problem solution and laboratory sessions

Qualifications for examination participation

• Fulfilment of the requirements for compulsory participation as given in the study programme part 2.4
• Participation in all planned activities with external lecturers and company visits
• Participation in laboratory exercises

Examination and aids

Oral examination based on a selected laboratory exercise plus a theoretical topic. Duration of examination: 30 min. No preparation time.

 

Permittet aids: Reports on laboratory exercises. No access to the internet. The format of a retake can change for the second and further retakes if so decided by the course responsible.

Marking

Internal

Grading

The 7-point grading scale