 The overall process of oxidizing glucose to carbon dioxide is known as cellular respiration and can produce about 30 molecules of ATP from a single molecule of glucose . ATP can be produced by a number of distinct cellular processes ; the three main pathways used to generate energy in eukaryotic organisms are glycolysis and the citric acid cycle / oxidative phosphorylation , both components of cellular respiration ; and beta @-@ oxidation . The majority of this ATP production by a non @-@ photosynthetic aerobic eukaryote takes place in the mitochondria , which can make up nearly 25 % of the total volume of a typical cell . 
