A bioprocess is any process that uses complete living cells or their components

(e.g., bacteria, enzymes, chloroplast) to obtain desired products. This process is

commonly referred to as Fermentation.
STAGES OF BIOPROCESSING
The entire process can be divided in three stages.

Stage I : Upstream processing which involves preparation of liquid medium,

separation of particulate and inhibitory chemicals from the medium, sterilization, air
purification etc.
Upstream processes include selection of a microbial strain characterized by the
ability to synthesize a specific product having the desired commercial value. This
strain then is subjected to improvement protocols to maximize the ability of the
strain to synthesize economical amounts of the product. Included in the upstream
phase is the fermentation process itself which usually is carried out in large tanks
known as fermenters or bioreactors. In addition to mechanical parts which provide
proper conditions inside the tank such as aeration, cooling, agitation, etc., the tank
is usually also equipped with complex sets of monitors and control devices in order
to run the microbial growth and product synthesis under optimized conditions. The
processing of the fermentation reactions inside the fermenter can be done using
many modifications of engineering technologies. One of the most commonly used
fermenter types is the stirred-tank fermenter which utilizes mechanical agitation
principles, mainly using radial-flow impellers, during the fermentation process.

Stage II: Fermentation which involves the conversion of substrates to desired

product with the help of biological agents such as microorganisms.
Techniques for large-scale production of microbial products. It must both provide an
optimum environment for the microbial synthesis of the desired product and be
economically feasible on a large scale. They can be divided into surface (emersion)
and submersion techniques. The latter may be run in batch, fed batch, continuous
reactors
In the surface techniques, the microorganisms are cultivated on the surface of a
liquid or solid substrate. These techniques are very complicated and rarely used in
industry
In the submersion processes, the microorganisms grow in a liquid medium. Except
in traditional beer and wine fermentation, the medium is held in fermenters and
stirred to obtain a homogeneous distribution of cells and medium. Most processes
are aerobic, and for these the medium must be vigorously aerated. All important

industrial processes (production of biomass and protein, antibiotics, enzymes and

sewage treatment) are carried out by submersion processes.

Stage III: Downstream processing which involves separation of cells from the
fermentation broth, purification and concentration of desired product and waste
disposal or recycle.
Downstream processing, the various stages that follow the fermentation process,
involves suitable techniques and methods for recovery, purification, and
characterization of the desired fermentation product. A vast array of methods for
downstream processing, such as centrifugation, filtration, and chromatography, may
be applied. These methods vary according to the chemical and physical nature, as
well as the desired grade, of the final product.

Depending on the circumstance, the term fermentation can have three meanings. In
a physiological sense, fermentation refers to a process that produces energy by
breaking down of energy-rich compounds under anaerobic conditions. This is the
basis of food fermentation, which is commonly used in the food industry in order to
produce diverse food products and also as a food preservation method. In a
biotechnological context though, this term is used in a much broader sense. There,
fermentation means a process in which microorganisms that are cultured on a largescale under aerobic or anaerobic conditions, convert a substrate into a product
which is useful to man.

This article attempts to provide an overview of the industrial fermentation process,

mainly focusing on various types of fermentations, the basic steps in a typical
fermentation process and the major industrial applications of fermentation.

Basic Steps of Industrial Fermentation

Any industrial fermentation operation can be broken down into three main stages,
viz, upstream processing, the fermentation process and downstream processing.

Upstream processing includes formulation of the fermentation medium, sterilisation

of air, fermentation medium and the fermenter, inoculum preparation and
inoculation of the medium.

The fermentation medium should contain an energy source, a carbon source, a

nitrogen source and micronutrients required for the growth of the microorganism
along with water and oxygen, if necessary.

A medium which is used for a large scale fermentation, in order to ensure the
sustainability of the operation, should have the following characteristics;
1. It should be cheap and easily available
2. It should maximise the growth of the microorganism, productivity and the rate of
formation of the desired product
3. It should minimise the formation of undesired products

Usually, waste products from other industrial processes, such as molasses,

lignocellulosic wastes, cheese whey and corn steep liquor, after modifying with the
incorporation of additional nutrients, are used as the substrate for many industrial
fermentations.

Sterilisation is essential for preventing the contamination with any undesired

microorganisms. Air is sterilised by membrane filtration while the medium is usually
heat sterilised. Any nutrient component which is heat labile is filter-sterilised and
later added to the sterilised medium. The fermenter may be sterilised together with
the medium or separately.

Inoculum build up is the preparation of the seed culture in amounts sufficient to

be used in the large fermenter vessel. This involves growing the microorganisms
obtained from the pure stock culture in several consecutive fermenters. This
process cuts down the time required for the growth of microorganisms in the
fermenter, thereby increasing the rate of productivity. Then the seed culture
obtained through this process is used to inoculate the fermentation medium.

Inoculum preparation procedure

The fermentation process involves the propagation of the microorganism and

production of the desired product. The fermentation process can be categorised
depending on various parameters.

It can be either aerobic fermentation, carried out in the presence of oxygen or

anaerobic fermentation, carried out in the absence of oxygen. Many industrial
fermentation are carried out under aerobic conditions where a few processes such
as ethanol production by yeast require strictly anaerobic environments.

The fermentation process can also be divided into three basic systems, namely
batch, continuous or fed-batch, depending on the feeding strategy of the culture
and the medium into the fermenter. Each of these processes has their own
advantages and disadvantages. In a batch operation, the medium and the culture
are initially fed into the vessel and it is then closed. After that, no components are
added apart from oxygen (in an aerobic process) and acid or alkali for the pH
adjustment. The fermentation is allowed to run for a predetermined period of time
and the product is harvested at the end. In a continuous process, fresh medium is
continuously added and the products, along with the culture is removed at the same
rate, thus maintaining constant concentrations of nutrients and cells are maintained
throughout the process. A fed-batch system is a combination of these two systems
where additional nutrients are added to the fermenter as the fermentation is in
progress. This extends the time of operation but the products are harvested at the
end of the production cycle as in a batch fermenter.

The process can also be categorised as solid state fermentation (SSF) or submerged
fermentation (SmF), depending on the amount of free water in the medium. In a
solid state fermentation, the medium contains no free flowing water. The organisms
are grown in a solid substrate which is moistened. This is used in certain industrial
process such as koji fermentation from soybeans, production of amylase and
protease by Aspergillus oryzae on roasted soybeans and wheat, bioremediation,
detoxification of agro-industrial wastes, etc. Submerged fermentation is in which
microorganisms grow submerged in a liquid medium where free water is abundant.
This is the method of choice for many industrial operations over SSF although SSF is
also rapidly gaining interest in the present.

A comparison of SSF and SmF

Downstream Processing includes the recovery of the products in a pure state and
the effluent treatment. Product recovery is carried out through a series of
operations including cell separation by settling, centrifugation or filtration; product
recovery by disruption of cells (if the product is produced intracellularly); extraction
and purification of the product. Finally, the effluents are treated by chemical,
physical or biological methods.

Fermentation Products
Commercially important products of fermentation can be described in five major
groups as follows.
1. Biomass (Bakers yeast, SCP, Starter cultures, animal feed, etc.)
2. Primary metabolites (amino acids, organic acids, vitamins, polysaccharides,
ethanol, etc.) and secondary metabolites (antibiotics, etc.)
3. Bioconvertion or biotransformation products (steroid biotransformation, L-sorbitol
etc.)

4. Enzymes (amylase, lipase, cellulase, etc.)

5. Recombinant products (some vaccines, hormones such as isulin and growth
hormones etc.)

Sources
1. Food Biotechnology (2nd edition) edited by Kalidas Shetty, Gopinadhan Paliyath,
Anthony Pometto and Robert E. Levin

2. Introduction to Biochemical Engineering By Dubasi Govardhana Rao