Cybernetic modeling of the cephalosporin C fermentation process

A mathematical model of the cybernetic viewpoints has been developed to describe the production process of cephalosporin C, which is an important natural antibiotic in the pharmaceutical industry. In developing the model, diauxic behavior of substrate consumption, morphological differentiation of cells, and catabolite repression of cephalosporin C production by the preferred substrate, glucose, were considered. The proposed model was tested on the experimental data from the literature. The results obtained show that the model can adequately describe the morphological differentiation of cells, the sequential utilization of carbon sources and the production of cephalosporin C, so it should be useful to optimize the production process of cephalosporin C by Cephalosporium acremonium in batch or continuous operations.