BackgroundTo operate the fermentation process effectively and efficiently, the kinetic modeling of cell growth and ethanol fermentation is necessary to predict the results of industrial fermentations under the optimized conditions. ResultsA kinetic study was conducted for glucose utilization for growth of the yeast strain Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 and ethanol formation. Effect of temperature, pH and initial glucose concentration on cell growth and ethanol formation was studied. The data obtained experimentally were validated with existing kinetic models for product and/or substrate inhibition. ConclusionOf all the models, the Aiba model for substrate inhibition was found to be the best fit to the experimental data for the growth of Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453, and the Luong model for product inhibition was found to be the best fit for ethanol formation using Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453. (c) 2013 Society of Chemical Industry