Dr.
Eman El Gebaly, Practical Biotechnology 1
What is BIOTECHNOLOGY??
Any technique that uses living organisms or
substances from those organisms to make or
modify a product, to improve plants or animals, or
to develop microorganisms for specific uses
Dr. Eman El Gebaly, Practical Biotechnology 1
Microbial Biotechnology
is defined as any technological application that
uses microbiological systems, microbial organisms, or
derivatives to make or modify products or processes for
specific use.
Dr. Eman El Gebaly, Practical Biotechnology 1
Development of biotechnology:
Classical biotechnology- built on ancient
biotechnology; Fermentation promoted food
production, and medicine.
Modern biotechnology- manipulates genetic
information in organism; Genetic engineering.
Dr. Eman El Gebaly, Practical Biotechnology 1
Dr. Eman El Gebaly, Practical Biotechnology 1
What is fermentation???
Pasteur’s definition: “life without air”,
New definition: a form of metabolism in which the end products could be further
oxidized.
“a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through
the action of enzymes”
Fermentation Technology:
Microorganisms, grown on a large scale, to produce valuable
commercial products or to carry out important chemical
transformations.
What are
Fermenters?
• Fermentors, also known as
bioreactors,
- sterilised and enclosed vessels
that are used for the growth of
microorganisms under optimal
conditions.
The microorganisms can be
grown in large quantities to
produce metabolites for
commercial uses
Basics of
Fermentaion
Fermentation
• is a process in which sugars are transformed into a new
product through chemical reactions carried out by
microorganisms.
• Since ancient times, humans have taken advantage of
the natural fermentation process to develop many
products, including foods, medicines, and fuels.
There are several important factors that need to be
accurate to design a fermenter. Those factors are
following:
• The vessel should be well equipped to maintain
aseptic conditions inside it for a number of days.
• Aeration and agitation are important for the
production of biological metabolites. However,
controlled agitation is required to prevent any damage
to the cells.
• Temperature is an important environmental factor
required for microbial growth. Therefore, a
temperature control system is required.
• Optimum pH is important for the growth of the
organism; therefore, the fermenter must be equipped
with a pH controller.
• The fermentation of a huge culture is a time-consuming
process. It needs to be contamination-free until the process
is complete. Apart from that, it is also important to monitor
the growth rate of the organism. Therefore, an aseptic
sampling system is needed to design a fermenter.
• The fermenter vessel should be designed properly to
minimize the labor involved in cleaning, harvesting, etc.
• It should be designed in such a way that it reduces
evaporation.
Feature Function Reason
An aseptic precaution to prevent
Hot steam sterilises the inside of
Steam inlet contamination by unwanted micro-
the fermenter
organisms
Allows sterile nutrients to enter the Penicillium need nutrients so that
Nutrient inlet
fermenter they can grow and reproduce
Keeps the temperature inside Penicillium grow best at an
Water jacket with cooling water
constant optimum temperature of 23-28°C
Penicillium need oxygen for
Air inlet Provides a source of oxygen
aerobic respiration
An aseptic precaution to prevent
Stops micro-organisms getting
Filter on air inlet contamination by unwanted micro-
inside the fermenter
organisms
Mixes the micro-organisms with
Keeps the mixture inside the
Stirring paddles the nutrients and keeps the
fermenter agitated (stirred)
temperature even
The pH inside the fermenter is Penicillium need to be maintained
pH probe and intake valve for acid
monitored to check it is at the at pH 6.5, the optimum for the
and alkali
optimum value fungus
Applications of fermentation:
• Application in medicine
• Production of antibiotics
• Production of insulin
• Production of growth hormones
• Production of vaccines
• Production of interferon
• Application in the food industry
• Production of fermented foods as cheese, wine, beer, and bread
to high-value products
• Food grade bio preservatives
• Functional foods/Neutraceuticals
• Production of single-cell protein
Other Applications
• It is also used for waste management such as
biofuels production (biodiesels, bioethanol,
butanol, biohydrogen, etc).
• It is also used to produce bio-surfactant, polymers
production such as bacterial cellulose production.
• Development of bioremediation processes
(involving microbes or their isolated enzymes) for
soils and wastewater treatments.
Fermentation medium
In most cases, the medium is independent of the bioreactor
design and process parameters
• The type: complex and synthetic medium (mineral medium)
Medium composition
Fermentation medium consists of:
• Macronutrients (C, H, N, S, P, Mg sources water, sugars, lipid,
amino acids, salt minerals)
• Micronutrients (trace elements/ metals, vitamins)
• Additional factors: growth factors, attachment proteins,
transport proteins, etc)
For aerobic culture, oxygen is sparged
Inoculums
Incoculum is the substance/ cell culture that is introduced to
the medium. The cell then grow in the medium, conducting
metabolisms.
Inoculum is prepared for the inoculation before the
fermentation starts.
It needs to be optimized for better performance:
• Adaptation in the medium
• Mutation (DNA recombinant, radiation, chemical addition)
Classification of fermentation according
to the substrate used:
A- Solid state B- Submerged or liquid
fermentation”SSF” fermentation”SmF”
-defined as “the - the techniques of cultivation of
fermentation process microorganism in liquid broth
occurring in the which breaks down the nutrient to
absence of free water release the desired bio-active
compound into solution.
utilizing the solid
substrate”.
HOW???
These biomolecules
are mostly In this method, selected
metabolites microorganism are grown in
closed vessels containing a
generated by
broth rich in nutrients and
microorganisms grown high concentration of
on a solid support oxygen.
selected for this In SmF substrate are utilized
purpose. quite rapidly hence need to
be constantly replaced or
supplemented with nutrients
Suitable for,,
biomolecule biomass, protein,
manufacturing antibiotics, enzymes
process used in the and sewage
food,
treatment
pharmaceutical,
cosmetic, fuel and
textile industries.
Which is preferred??
Lesser space is required
More space is required. Contamination???
Contamination???? Aeration and agitation of
system is possible by use of
sparger and impeller
Classification of fermenters:
I- Small and Lab”bench” scale fermenters:
“0.5- 6 liters”
II- Pilot scale fermenters: “50-200
litres”
III- Industrial or Production scale:
Scale up:
It is the transfer of small scale
laboratory fermentation to an
industrial large scale.
Pilot scale fermenters are designed for research and development in
process scale-up.
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