A MODEL FOR ENERGY-SUFFICIENT CULTURE-GROWTH

Pirt's maintenance model has been widely accepted for the effects of growth rate and maintenance on growth yield. However, the interpretation of parameters in Pirt's model as biological constants is difficult for energy‐sufficient culture growth. In this study, a mechanistic model for the growth energetics of energy‐sufficient chemostat cultures is proposed and verified with literature data. In the model, the overutilization of the energy substrate in energy‐sufficient culture growth is attributed to the defective regulation of the energy substrate metabolism and energy uncoupling. The model also uses an “energy surplus” concept to collectively represent the effects of energy excessiveness. The proposed model provides a better quantitative understanding of the maximum growth yield and maintenance of energy‐sufficient cultures. It also explains the glucose concentration effect reported in the literature. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.