Industrial fermentation in the context of "Fermentation (biochemistry)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Industrial fermentation

Industrial fermentation is the intentional use of fermentation in manufacturing processes. In addition to the mass production of fermented foods and drinks, industrial fermentation has widespread applications in chemical industry. Commodity chemicals, such as acetic acid, citric acid, and ethanol are made by fermentation. Moreover, nearly all commercially produced industrial enzymes, such as lipase, invertase and rennet, are made by fermentation with genetically modified microbes. In some cases, production of biomass itself is the objective, as is the case for single-cell proteins, baker's yeast, and starter cultures for lactic acid bacteria used in cheesemaking.

In general, fermentations can be divided into four types:

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👉 Industrial fermentation in the context of Fermentation (biochemistry)

Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism that harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and their electrons are transferred to other organic molecules (cofactors, coenzymes, etc.). Anaerobic glycolysis is a related term used to describe the occurrence of fermentation in organisms (usually multicellular organisms such as animals) when aerobic respiration cannot keep up with the ATP demand, due to insufficient oxygen supply or anaerobic conditions.

Fermentation is important in several areas of human society. Humans have used fermentation in the production and preservation of food for 13,000 years. It has been associated with health benefits, unique flavor profiles, and making products have better texture. Humans and their livestock also benefit from fermentation from the microbes in the gut that release end products that are subsequently used by the host for energy. Perhaps the most commonly known use for fermentation is at an industrial level to produce commodity chemicals, such as ethanol and lactate. Ethanol is used in a variety of alcoholic beverages (beers, wine, and spirits) while lactate can be neutralized to lactic acid and be used for food preservation, curing agent, or a flavoring agent.

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Industrial fermentation in the context of List of purification methods in chemistry

Purification in a chemical context is the physical separation of a chemical substance of interest from foreign or contaminating substances. Pure results of a successful purification process are termed isolate. The following list of chemical purification methods should not be considered exhaustive.

  • Affinity purification purifies proteins by retaining them on a column through their affinity to antibodies, enzymes, or receptors that have been immobilised on the column.
  • Filtration is a mechanical method to separate solids from liquids or gases by passing the feed stream through a porous sheet such as a cloth or membrane, which retains the solids and allows the liquid to pass through.
  • Centrifugation is a process that uses an electric motor to spin a vessel of fluid at high speed to make heavier components settle to the bottom of the vessel.
  • Evaporation removes volatile liquids from non-volatile solutes, which cannot be done through filtration due to the small size of the substances.
  • Liquid–liquid extraction removes an impurity or recovers a desired product by dissolving the crude material in a solvent in which other components of the feed material are soluble.
  • Crystallization separates a product from a liquid feed stream, often in extremely pure form, by cooling the feed stream or adding precipitants that lower the solubility of the desired product so that it forms crystals. The pure solid crystals are then separated from the remaining liquor by filtration or centrifugation.
  • Recrystallization: In analytical and synthetic chemistry work, purchased reagents of doubtful purity may be recrystallised, e.g. dissolved in a very pure solvent, and then crystallized, and the crystals recovered, in order to improve and/or verify their purity.
  • Trituration removes highly soluble impurities from usually solid insoluble material by rinsing it with an appropriate solvent.
  • Adsorption removes a soluble impurity from a feed stream by trapping it on the surface of a solid material, such as activated carbon, that forms strong non-covalent chemical bonds with the impurity.
  • Chromatography employs continuous adsorption and desorption on a packed bed of a solid to purify multiple components of a single feed stream. In a laboratory setting, mixture of dissolved materials are typically fed using a solvent into a column packed with an appropriate adsorbent, and due to different affinities for solvent (moving phase) versus adsorbent (stationary phase) the components in the original mixture pass through the column in the moving phase at different rates, which thus allows to selectively collect desired materials out of the initial mixture.
  • Smelting produces metals from raw ore, and involves adding chemicals to the ore and heating it up to the melting point of the metal.
  • Refining is used primarily in the petroleum industry, whereby crude oil is heated and separated into stages according to the condensation points of the various elements.
  • Distillation, widely used in petroleum refining and in purification of ethanol separates volatile liquids on the basis of their relative volatilities. There are several type of distillation: simple distillation, steam distillation etc.
  • Water purification combines a number of methods to produce potable or drinking water.
  • Downstream processing refers to purification of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food ingredients produced by fermentation or synthesized by plant and animal tissues, for example antibiotics, citric acid, vitamin E, and insulin.
  • Fractionation refers to a purification strategy in which some relatively inefficient purification method is repeatedly applied to isolate the desired substance in progressively greater purity.
  • Electrolysis refers to the breakdown of substances using an electric current. This removes impurities in a substance that an electric current is run through
  • Sublimation is the process of changing of any substance (usually on heating) from a solid to a gas (or from gas to a solid) without passing through liquid phase. In terms of purification - material is heated, often under vacuum, and the vapors of the material are then condensed back to a solid on a cooler surface. The process thus in its essence is similar to distillation, however the material which is condensed on the cooler surface then has to be removed mechanically, thus requiring different laboratory equipment.
  • Bioleaching is the extraction of metals from their ores through the use of living organisms.

Separation process

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Industrial fermentation in the context of Penicillin

Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from Penicillium moulds, principally P. chrysogenum and P. rubens. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using deep tank fermentation and then purified. A number of natural penicillins have been discovered, but only two purified compounds are in clinical use: penicillin G (intramuscular or intravenous use) and penicillin V (given by mouth). Penicillins were among the first medications to be effective against many bacterial infections caused by staphylococci and streptococci. They are still widely used today for various bacterial infections, though many types of bacteria have developed resistance following extensive use.

In the United States, 10% of the population claims penicillin allergies, but because the frequency of positive skin test results decreases by 10% with each year of avoidance, 90% of these patients can eventually tolerate penicillin. Additionally, those with penicillin allergies can usually tolerate cephalosporins (another group of β-lactam) because the immunoglobulin E (IgE) cross-reactivity is only 3%.

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Industrial fermentation in the context of Fermented beverage

This is a list of fermented foods, which are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms. In this context, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to alcohol using yeast, but other fermentation processes involve the use of bacteria such as lactobacillus, including the making of foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut. Many fermented foods are mass-produced using industrial fermentation processes. The science of fermentation is known as zymology.

Many pickled or soured foods are fermented as part of the pickling or souring process, but many are simply processed with brine, vinegar, or another acid such as lemon juice.

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Industrial fermentation in the context of Glucose syrup

Glucose syrup, also known as confectioner's glucose, is a syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch. Glucose is a sugar. Maize (corn) is commonly used as the source of the starch in the US, in which case the syrup is called "corn syrup", but glucose syrup is also made from potatoes and wheat, and less often from barley, rice and cassava.

Glucose syrup containing over 90% glucose is used in industrial fermentation, but syrups used in confectionery contain varying amounts of glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade, and can typically contain 10% to 43% glucose. Glucose syrup is used in foods to sweeten, soften texture and add volume. By converting some glucose in corn syrup into fructose (using an enzymatic process), a sweeter product, high fructose corn syrup can be produced.

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