Resumen
- In aerobic process oxygen must be continuously supplied in order to achieve acceptable productivities, independently of the operation mode (batch, semi-continuous, or continuous). Since the role of oxygen in microorganism growth and its metabolism is important, both the oxygen uptake rate by the cells (OUR) and the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) into the system have to be investigated. However, the influence on OUR of hydrodynamic operational conditions employed to improve OTR has been much less studied. Thus, although the dynamic method is usually accepted for OUR measurements, the influence of oxygen transport conditions on oxygen consumption has been hardly considered.