PROCESS CONTROL AND MEDIUM FORMULATION FOR INDUSTRIAL FERMENTATION

Sikander Ali, Rabia Akram, Shahbaz Tariq*, Faiza Riaz and Syeda Fatima Nadeem

ABSTRACT

Fermenter control and media formulation has been a dynamic area of research and it captivated the attention of world. All this is because of the new advances in other interrelated areas which may be utilized to overcome the inherent complications in control of fermenter. Organization with conventional dictatorial control of variables such as pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration, research in control of fermenter has undergone important changes including the current neural network based methods. At industrial scale fermentation, media are required for growth of specific microbes in a fermenter. Thus fermenter control, nutrients availability and fermentation efficiency, all are important factors in medium formulation process. The microorganisms used for process of fermentation grow in specially designed medium having appropriate supply of nutrients such as sources of nitrogen and carbon, energy sources, certain mineral elements, and water and perhaps vitamins plus oxygen in case of aerobic nature of microbes. Trace nutrients and growth factors are also important for microbes which are incapable of fulfilling their nutrient requirements. Trace elements including copper, zinc, cobalt, molybdenum, iron and manganese are added to medium when purified nitrogen and carbon sources are used. Phosphates and carbonates are used as mineral buffering salts to stabilize pH and antifoaming agents are used to prevent foam formation during fermentation process. Chelating agents are also used at higher concentrations of metal ions. There should be perfection in organism selection and correctness in medium formulation for large scale production of particular product. Although complete analysis is necessary to develop a suitable medium for fermentation process.

Keywords: fermenter, fermentation, media, nutrients, microbes, aerobic, variables, trace elements, growth factors, chelating agents, antifoaming agents.