Fermentation Technology
• Fermentation is a process of incomplete oxidation of sugar, especially
glucose, into alcohol and CO₂. It is generally an anaerobic process. By
this process, glucose is splitted up by glycolysis into pyruvic acid
which is further degraded enzymatically to alcohol and CO₂. Several
species of yeast, bacteria, and other fungi are essential as they
contain many enzymes that are used to carry out fermentation.
• Fermentation was discovered by ancient people by prolonged soaking
(steeping) of grains before cooking or by storing juices of fruits.
Alcohol was the first product of biotechnology. Now a day a modern
technology developed for the production of alcohol on industrial
scale is the fermentation technology.
Process of alcohol manufacture in industries
• The raw material used for preparation of ethyl alcohol is molasses. It is thick, dark
syrup drained from raw sugar during the refining process. It is also called the
products of sugar (in sugar industry).
• Molasses mash (mixture of raw sugar and hot water) is adjusted to the desired
sugar concentration and temperature by addition of water and to the desired pH
by addition of a measured quantity of acid or base. Molasses is kept in a
bioreactor (fermentation tank). Yeast (Saccharomyces), so called starter, is added
and mixed uniformly with molasses mash in the same bioreactor. The mash and
starter become well mixed as they spatter and fall to the bottom of the tank.
Fermentation soon becomes vigorous with the evolution of large quantities of
CO₂. Fermentation is completed within fifty hours or less. Then the fermented
molasses is distilled and separate the alcohol and other volatile constituents from
mash. The purification of alcohol is made by means of rectifying columns and
then stored in a container.
Fermentation process
Fermentation is done with one of the following method :
(a) Batch process: In this process, nutrient medium and fermenting
organism like yeast are allowed to remain in the bioreactor
(fermentation tank) till the maximum fermentation product is
produced. The entire medium with organism and the product is
removed after each charge. Then the bioreactor is cleaned and a fresh
batch is stored.
(b) Continuous process: In this process, product is drawn off at regular
intervals and fresh medium is introduced into bioreactor.
c) Immobilized fermentation process: Living yeast cells are immobilized
in calcium alginate beads. The beads with living cells are placed in the
nutrient medium in fermentation tank. This technique allows quick
fermentation about 20 times faster than the batch process.
CO₂ is a bye product of alcohol fermentation. It is collected separately.
Yeast cells are also isolated from fermented product. A part of yeast is
kept further inoculation. The remaining part of the yeast is washed,
dried and employed as animal feed.
• Fermentation process involves two broad :
(i) Upstream process groups
(ii) Downstream process
Upstream process - All the operations before starting the fermenter are
collectively called upstream process such as sterilization of the
fermenter, preparation and sterilization of culture medium and the
preparation and growth of a suitable inoculum of microbial strain.
(ii) Downstream process - All the operations after the fermentation are
known as downstream process. It includes the purification of
downstream process fermented products from fermentation broth.
Methods commonly used are distillation, centrifugation, filtration, and
solvent extraction.
Other fermented alcoholic beverages
• Fermented alcoholic beverages are consumed all over the world. In
some country the use of a particular beverages has been passed
down from ancient times, some of the alcoholic beverages is
explained here:
Wine: wine is the product made by the normal alcoholic fermentation
of the juice of ripe grapes (Vitis vinifera). Relatively small amount of
wine are made from apples, raisins black berries, peaches, cherries,
oranges, apricots, grape fruit, pomegranates, raspberries, pears, honey
and straw berries. The wine made from the fruit is named after the
fruit, for example, apple wine.
Whiskey: Whisky is an alcohol distillate from the fermented mash of
grains. Whisky is obtained from a fermented mash. After several
distillation of mash the low wines are resulted. Further distillation
yields the high wines. A mixture of water and high wines makes straight
whisky. At first several principles are present, which make whiskey
harsh and unpalatable. The whiskey is aged in charred oak containers.
At first the whiskey is colourless, the colour develops during the aging
process. A continued distillation of high wines results in the formation
of neutral spinets, which are used in blended whiskies and cordials.
Rum: Rum is an alcohol distillate from the fermented juice of sugarcane
syrup, sugarcane molasses or other sugarcane by products. Rum is
manufactured and used in general in those countries which grew
sugarcane or export molasses or other sugarcane products. It possesses
a characteristic flavor, aroma and colour. The flavor and aroma improve
with aging. Rum contains about 41% alcohol. Rum is usually aged in
charred white oak barrels. Rum may be used in the perspiration of ice-
cream, candies, in the curing of tobacco, as a beverage and as
medicinal.
Brandy: Brandy is distillate form of wine. It is also distillate from the
remounted juice of various fruit. The best brandy is made in France
known as cognac. The other French brandies are known as annoyance.
The finest grades of brandy are made from white wines. The brown
colour of brandy develops when it is stored in wooden casks.
Sometimes the brandy is coloured with caramel. It contains about 65 to
70 percent alcohol. Apple brandy is known as apple jack.
Gin: It is obtained by distillation form a fermented mash of malt or raw
grain. The finest gin is distilled from a malt of barley and rye. It requires
several distillation. The flavor of gin and any medicinal value are due to
oil of juniper.
Application of fermentation in industries
• Besides alcohol, other products are also formed by process of
fermentation. The product produced depends upon the nutrient
medium. Main products produced are n-propanol, butanol, phenyl
ethanol, amy alcohol, glycerol, lactic acid, acetic acid, pyruvic acid,
succinic acid, ethyl acetate, caporic acid, etc. Yeast is also used as
animal feed, yeast extract, food supplements and vitamins. Some of
important industrial uses of fermentation are:
i) Citric acid is produced on commercial scale from fermenting molasses
or purified glucose syrup from maize using Aspergillus niger as
microorganism. This fungus also produces gluconic acid.
(ii) Lactic acid is produced using thermotolerant or thermophilic lactic
acid bacteria.
(iii) Acetic acid, most important acid, is produced by the fermentation
of carbohydrates.
b) Amino acids Commercial production of a number of amino acids is
being done using fermentation technology. Out of 20 naturally
occurring amino acids, twelve are produced by industrial fermentation
or enzyme conversion.
c) Vitamins
Vitamins can be synthesized by chemical processes or by biological
means. Riboflavin is produced from the fungus Eremothecium ashbyii
whereas vitamin B₁2 is chiefly synthesized from Streptomyces griseus..
Streptomyces also produces antibiotics. During fermentation process,
change in the operational conditions may lead to the production of
vitamin rather than antibiotics.
(d) Enzymes Several thousand enzymes possessing different substrate
specificities are now known. The bulks of enzymes used commercially
are obtained from microbial sources and are produced by
fermentation processes. Enzymes from microbial, rather than plant or
animal, sources are usually used because of
their availability, greater stability and their variety and case of genetic
manipulation. The industrial enzymes are produced from different
species of bacteria and fungi.