Question

What is the unit of Maintenance coefficient “m”?

(a) kg substrate (kg biomass) S^-1

(b) kg substrate (kg biomass) S

(c) kg substrate (kg biomass)^-1 S^-1

(d) kg substrate (kg biomass)^-1 S

This question was addressed to me by my school teacher while I was bunking the class.

This key question is from Effect of Maintenance on Yields topic in portion Homogenous Reactions of Bioprocess Engineering

Answer 1

Right option is (c) kg substrate (kg biomass)^-1 S^-1

Easy explanation: A maintenance coefficient is used to describe the specific rate of substrate uptake for cellular maintenance, or

m = – [dS/dt]m/X

Unit of maintenance coefficient , m. is kg substrate (kg biomass)^-1S^-1.