By employing a two‐stage continuous‐culture system, some of the more important physiological parameters involved in cellulose biosynthesis have been evaluated with an ultimate objective of designing an optimally controlled cellulose process. The two‐stage continuous‐culture system was run for a period of 1350 hr with Trichoderma reesei strain MCG‐77. The temperature and pH were controlled at 32°C and pH 4.5 for the first stage (growth) and 28°C and pH 3.5 for the second stage (enzyme production). Lactose was the only carbon source for the both stages. The ratio of specific uptake rate of carbon to that of nitrogen, Q(C)/Q(N), that supported good cell growth ranged from 11 to 15, and the ratio for maximum specific enzyme productivity ranged from 5 to 13. The maintenance coefficients determined for oxygen, MO, and for carbon source, MC, are 0.85 mmol O2/g biomass/hr and 0.14 mmol hexose/g biomass/hr, respectively. The yield constants determined are: YX/O = 32.3 g biomass/mol O2, YX/C = 1.1 g biomass/g C or YX/C = 0.44 g biomass/g hexose, YX/N = 12.5 g biomass/g nitrogen for the cell growth stage, and YX/N = 16.6 g biomass/g nitrogen for the enzyme production stage. Enzyme was produced only in the second stage. Volumetric and specific enzyme productivities obtained were 90 IU/liter/hr and 8 IU/g biomass/hr, respectively. The maximum specific enzyme productivity observed was 14.8 IU/g biomass/hr. The optimal dilution rate in the second stage that corresponded to the maximum enzyme productivity was 0.026 ∼ 0.028 hr−1, and the specific growth rate in the second stage that supported maximum specific enzyme productivity was equal to or slightly less than zero. Copyright © 1979 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
