Fermention processes fermentation

Fermentation gives rise to at least a two-phase system including the fermentation liquid mixture and the solid microorganisms that catalyze the fermentation process. Fermentation can also have three phases such as for aerobic fermentation where gaseous oxygen is bubbled through the fermentor. And immobilized packed-bed aerobic fermen-... 

Fig. 3.1 Cocoa bean box fermentation is a commonly used method for fermentation of the cocoa pulp-bean mass. A cascade of three boxes of about 1 m each is an optimal setup for this fermentation process. In a box fermentation process, fermentation of the cocoa pulp-bean mass starts in the upper box every 24 h, the fermenting cocoa pulp-bean mass is transferred to a lower box. At the end of the fermentation process, the fermented cocoa beans are collected...

Manufactured by the liquid-phase oxidation of ethanal at 60 C by oxygen or air under pressure in the presence of manganese(ii) ethanoate, the latter preventing the formation of perelhanoic acid. Another important route is the liquid-phase oxidation of butane by air at 50 atm. and 150-250 C in the presence of a metal ethanoate. Some ethanoic acid is produced by the catalytic oxidation of ethanol. Fermentation processes are used only for the production of vinegar. 

H2N-CH2 [CH2j3.CH(NH2) COOH. Colourless needles, m.p. 224 C (decomp.), very soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol. L-(-H)-Lysine is one of the basic amino-acids occurring in particularly large quantities in the protamine and histone classes of proteins. It is an essential amino-acid, which cannot be synthesized by the body and must be present in the food for proper growth. It can be manufactured by various fermentation processes or by synthesis. 

Apart from using an environmentally friendly solvent, it is also important to clean up the chemical reactions themselves by reducing the number and amount of side-products formed. For this purpose catalysts are a versatile tool. Catalysts have been used for thousands of years in processes such as fermentation and their importance has grown ever since. In synthetic oiganic chemistry, catalysts have found wide applications. In the majority of these catalytic processes, organic solvents are used, but also here the use of water is becoming increasingly popular . 

In enzymes, this folding process is crucial to their activity as catalysts, with part of the structure as the center of reactivity. Heating enzymes (or other treatments) destroys their three-dimensional structure so stops further action. For example, in winemaking, the rising alcohol content eventually denatures the enzymes responsible for turning sugar into alcohol, and fermentation stops. 

A commercial technology (69), the SABRE process, treats contaminated water and soil ia a two-stage process by adding a readily degradable carbon and an inoculum of anaerobic bacteria able to degrade the contaminant. An initial aerobic fermentation removes oxygen so that the subsequent reduction of the contaminant is not accompanied by oxidative polymerization. 

Recovery nd Purifica.tion. The production of EH Lilly s human insulin requires 31 principal processing steps of which 27 are associated with product recovery and purification (13). The production process for human insulin, based on a fermentation which yields proinsulin, provides an instmctive case study on the range of unit operations which must be considered in the recovery and purification of a recombinant product from a bacterial fermentation. Whereas the exact sequence has not been pubUshed, the principle steps in the purification scheme are outlined in Figure la. 

Whereas recombinant proteins produced as inclusion bodies in bacterial fermentations may be amenable to reversed-phase chromatography (42), the use of reversed-phase process chromatography does not appear to be widespread for higher molecular weight proteins. 

With the proper ratio of nutrients and oxygen feed, a water-soluble polymer is produced and accompanied by growth in the microorganism population. Both contribute to the viscosity of the medium and this limits the production process. Fermentation processes require more strenuous mixing and control conditions. 

Careful records must be kept to enable verification of compHance. Each lot of wine must be traceable back to the grapes and vineyard. Tanks must be carefully gauged and the capacities recorded on them. If the wine is to be labeled "estate botded," not only must the wine be fermented, processed, and bottled by the state winery at thein Hsted address, but the vineyard must also be owned or controlled by that winery. Other label terrninology, subject to some further intricacies, are "produced," ie, fermented 75% or made into a different class of wine "prepared," "vinted," or "cellared," ie, subjected to ceUar processing or aging without changing the class of wine "blended," ie, combined at the stated address, wines (probably purchased) of the same class and type and "botded" or "packed" by the stated winery. 

Until World War 1 acetone was manufactured commercially by the dry distillation of calcium acetate from lime and pyroligneous acid (wood distillate) (9). During the war processes for acetic acid from acetylene and by fermentation supplanted the pyroligneous acid (10). In turn these methods were displaced by the process developed for the bacterial fermentation of carbohydrates (cornstarch and molasses) to acetone and alcohols (11). At one time Pubhcker Industries, Commercial Solvents, and National Distillers had combined biofermentation capacity of 22,700 metric tons of acetone per year. Biofermentation became noncompetitive around 1960 because of the economics of scale of the isopropyl alcohol dehydrogenation and cumene hydroperoxide processes. 

The fermentation of / -paraffins in the C q to range for protein production has provided a new oudet for these hydrocarbons (see Foods, nonconventional). Because it operates in Hquid phase, the UOP Molex process can readily accomplish the separation of / -paraffins from such a wide boiling feedstock. 

Citric Acid Separation. Citric acid [77-92-9] and other organic acids can be recovered from fermentation broths usiag the UOP Sorbex technology (90—92). The conventional means of recovering citric acid is by a lime and sulfuric acid process ia which the citric acid is first precipitated as a calcium salt and then reacidulated with sulfuric acid. However, this process generates significant by-products and thus can become iaefficient. 

UOP has developed a UOP Sorbex process for the recovery and purification of citric acid from fermentation broths. The process provides technical-grade citric acid, C HgOy, which can be further recrystaUized to obtain food-grade citric acid (qv). 

Single-Cell Protein. Systems involving single-cell proteins are often very large throughput, continuous processing operations such as the Pmteen process developed by ICI. These are ideal for air-lift bioreactors of which the pressure cycle fermenter is a special case (50). 

Although a tremendous number of fermentation processes have been researched and developed to various extents, only a couple of hundred ate used commercially. Fermentation industries have continued to expand in terms of the number of new products on the market, the total volume (capacity), and the total sales value of the products. The early 1990s U.S. market for fermentation products was estimated to be in the 9-10 x 10 range. The total world market is probably three times that figure, and antibiotics continue to comprise a primary share of the industry. Other principal product categories are enzymes, several organic acids, baker s yeast, ethanol (qv), vitamins (qv), and steroid hormones (qv). 

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