Empirical elemental formula for biomass

Range C:H(1.77):O(0.49):N(0.24)
Organism Bacteria Escherichia coli
Reference von Stockar, U. Liu, J. Does microbial life always feed on negative entropy? Thermodynamic analysis of microbial growth. 1999. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1412(3) p.198 table 4PubMed ID10482783
Primary Source Grosz R, Stephanopoulos G. Statistical mechanical estimation of the free energy of formation of E. coli biomass for use with macroscopic bioreactor balances. Biotechnol Bioeng. 1983 Sep25(9):2149-63. p2161 2nd paragraphPubMed ID18574813
Method Statistical mechanics
Comments P.198 right column top paragraph: "The results of the reported work on the entropies and Gibbs energies of combustion of biomass are summarized in Table 4. As seen in Table 4, the Gibbs energy of combustion for S. cerevisiae that was determined using the experimental value of entropy is within 1% of the value estimated with Roels' correlation, or Battley's empirical method. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the Gibbs energy of combustion for other microorganisms may also be estimated by using Roels' correlation or Battley's method without introducing large error in the calculation of Gibbs energy changes. In most cases, the value for average biomass (-541.2 kJ/C-mol) may be used, though some further error might be introduced." This means that for every mole of carbon, there are 1.77 moles of hydrogen, 0.49 moles of oxygen and 0.24 moles of nitrogen. From this the carbon content of a cell is about 48% of the dry weight. For 47% carbon fraction of cell dry weight see BNID 100649
Entered by Phil Mongiovi
ID 101800