The use of calorimetry in biotechnology

TLDR: In this paper, a short review of the development of biological calorimetry and a discussion of the instrumentation and the measuring principles that have been applied to study heat generation by microbial cultures and other cellular systems is presented.

Abstract: After a short review of the development of biological calorimetry and a discussion of the instrumentation and the measuring principles that have been applied to study heat generation by microbial cultures and other cellular systems, this article demonstrates how heat evolution depends on growth, biomass yield, maintenance metabolism, nature of substrate, energetic efficiency of growth, oxygen uptake, and product formation. Theoretical considerations are used together with experimental evidence to explain the nature of these relationships and the underlying reasons. The possibilities of exploiting these relationships in order to gain information on any of the above factors by applying calorimetric measurements to biotechnology have been emphasized and developed throughout this paper.