Fermentation Media and Industrial Sterilization

Many useful metabolites, antibiotics, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals are being produced by industrial fermentation processes. Production of these compounds by microbes has proved very economical and it comes under GRAS category, which is generally regarded as safe. The term industrial sterilization covers the fermentation of bacteria, fungi, and also yeasts. Many organic acids are being successfully produced by utilizing filamentous fungi: for example, the production of citric acid by Aspergillus niger and Penicillin from Penicillium chrysogenum. With the recent inventions, the production of recombinant proteins such as insulin (helpful for diabetic patients) is being produced by fermentation utilizing Escherichia coli microbial cells. However, for industrial fermentations, the knowledge to use the fermentor, especially the engineering tools, the process control systems, and optimization of the parameters are important steps for the efficiency of the processes. This chapter covers the sterilization charts, designing of sterilizing equipment with deterministic and probabilistic approaches. Different tools in fermentation process development and in their operation have been discussed in detail.