Population Dynamics

MODELS OF POPULATION GROWTH

A mass balance can be applied to the study of population dynamics in living
organisms. Consider the case of the algal or bacterial community of a lake or
river or the community of microorganisms in a reactor used for waste
treatment and resource recovery. The mass balance on biomass in a batch
reactor may be written as follows:

V = volume (L), X = biomass (mg/L), t = time (days),Q = flow (L/day), and

reaction refers to all the kinetic processes mediating the growth or death of
the organisms. Each term in the Equation has units of mass per time
(mg/day). This Equation can be simplified as:

where k is the first-order rate coefficient (time-1).