Comparison of adsorption equilibrium and kinetic models for a case study of pharmaceutical active ingredient adsorption from fermentation broths: Parameter determination, simulation, sensitivity analysis and optimization

Abstract

Mathematical models for a batch process were developed to predict concentration distributions for an active ingredient (vancomycin) adsorption on a representative hydrophobic-molecule adsorbent, using differently diluted crude fermentation broth with cells as the feedstock. The kinetic parameters were estimated using the maximization of the coefficient of determination by a heuristic algorithm. The parameters were estimated for each fermentation broth concentration using four concentration distributions at initial vancomycin concentrations of 4.96, 1.17, 2.78, and 5.54 g l -1. In sequence, the models and their parameters were validated for fermentation broth concentrations of 0, 20, 50, and 100% (v/v) by calculating the coefficient of determination for each concentration distribution at the corresponding initial concentration. The applicability of the validated models for process optimization was investigated by using the models as process simulators to optimize the two process efficiencies.