Abstract: Tannase (tannin acyl hydrolase, E.C.3.1.1.20) is an
important hydrolysable enzyme with innumerable applications and
industrial potential. In the present study, a kinetic model has been
developed for the batch fermentation used for the production of
tannase by A.flavus MTCC 3783. Maximum tannase activity of
143.30 U/ml was obtained at 96 hours under optimum operating
conditions at 35oC, an initial pH of 5.5 and with an inducer tannic
acid concentration of 3% (w/v) for a fermentation period of 120
hours. The biomass concentration reaches a maximum of 6.62 g/l at
96 hours and further there was no increase in biomass concentration
till the end of the fermentation. Various unstructured kinetic models
were analyzed to simulate the experimental values of microbial
growth, tannase activity and substrate concentration. The Logistic
model for microbial growth , Luedeking - Piret model for production
of tannase and Substrate utilization kinetic model for utilization of
substrate were capable of predicting the fermentation profile with
high coefficient of determination (R2) values of 0.980, 0.942 and
0.983 respectively. The results indicated that the unstructured models
were able to describe the fermentation kinetics more effectively.