Dynamics of chemostat in which one microbial population grows on multiple complementary nutrients.

The equations of a chemostat in which one microbial population grows on multiple rate-limiting nutrients are formulated. The dynamics of a chemostat involving growth on complementary nutrients is studied through stability analysis of the system of equations. Some conditions are derived that relate the dynamic behavior of the chemostat to its operating conditions and can be applied to any model for the specific growth rate of the population. It is shown that, if maintenance of the population is neglected, the system exhibits no sustained or damped oscillations. If maintenance of the population is considered, damped oscillations are observed for some operating conditions.