Introduction of Industrial microbiology (Lecture 1)

Spreading Knowledge is a Great Legacy.
MMG

1. Dr. Imran Sajid

2. •The introduction (History and brief overview of the
industrial microbiology )
•Secondary Metabolites (Basic concepts)
•Industrial microorganisms and strain development
•Fermentation media (substrate for fermentation)
•Fermentation Systems (methods of fermentation)

3. •Down stream Processing (Product recovery)
•Product development, regulation and safety
•Antibiotics
•Industrial fuels (ethanol production)
•Quality control and Quality management

4. Books
•Industrial Microbiology-an introduction
(Michael J. Waites, N. L. Morgan, J. S. Rockey and G.
Higton)

•Biotechnology- A text book of industrial microbioloy
(Wulf Cruger and Annelies cruger)

•Industrial Microbiology (Prescott and Dunn,s)

5. Definition
•Industrial Microbiology is the commercial
exploitation of microorganisms, it involves processes
and products that are of major economic ,
environmental and social importance through out
the world
•There are two key aspects of industrial microbiology
1- production of microbial products by fermentation
2- role of microorganisms in providing services like
waste treatment, pollution control etc

6. Historical perspectives
•Traditional fermentation process (thousand years
before)
•Scientific basis of these processes (150 years ago)
•19
th
century (1857 Pasteur, alcoholic fermentations,
pasteurization)
•Cagniard-Latour, Schwann (yeast activities in
fermentation)
•Pasteur publications (Etudes sur le Vin,1866. Etudes
sur la Biere, 1876), an important catalyst

7. •Hansen 1883 (Carlsberg Brewery in Denmark, pure
culture brewing by Carlsberg yeast No.1, S.
carlsbergenisis, Now a days a variety of S.
cerevisiae)
•Start of 20
th
century (Progress was relatively slow,
advancement in large scale sewage treatment)
•Weizmann 1913-15 (first novel industrial scale
fermentation, Acetone-butanol fermentation,
Clostridum acetobutylicum)

Historical perspectives

8. Historical perspectives
•In 1920s (production of citric acid, Aspergillus niger,
a mould)
•1940s rapid advances in fermentation technology
(production of antibiotics, penicilline, due to world
war II, the process of large scale submerged
fermentation started)
•Recent developments includes:
production of monoclonal antibodies, (1970s
Milstein& Kohler), Massive developments in Genetic
engineering (recombinant DNA technology, last 30
years)

9. •Help in strain improvement (by gene manipulation),
all kinds of microbial strains can be developed
including bacteria, fungi etc
•Strains as a response can produce new or required
product, may give high yield, can grow very fast, can
use cheap substrate mostly wastes etc
•May be useful in downstream processing (advance
expression systems in which product recovery
becomes very easy)

10. Fermentation is a multidisciplinary activity ?????..
•A successful fermentation process require the
contributions from a wide range of disciplines
including:
•Microbiology,
•Biochemistry,
•Genetics,
•Molecular biology
•Chemistry
•Chemical and process engineering

11. Consists of two stages
•Upstream processing (USP)
•Downstream processing (DSP)
Upstream processing includes three main areas
• The producer microorganism
• The fermentation medium
• The fermentation process

12. Raw material Microbial strain
Fermentation
Product purification
Product Effluent wastes
Upstream processing
Downstream processing

13. Upstream processing
The producer microorganism
Key factors includes
• Selection of suitable industrial organism
• Strain improvement
• Maintenance of the strain
• Preparation of inoculums
• Trophophase (actively growing phase,
primary metabolites are produced)\
• Idiophase (stationary phase or resting
phase, secondary metabolites are produced)

14. The fermentation medium
• Selection of suitable medium (cost
effective)
• Essential nutrients
• Media optimization (maximization of yield)
• Most of the media are wastes of other
industries e.g. sugar processing wastes,
whey and corn steep liquor

15. The fermentation process
• Cultivation under controlled conditions
• Repression and feedback inhibition must
be avoided
• Capacity of the fermenters
• Stirring system and other facilities
• Construction material of the fermenter tank
and pipes etc (usually stainless steel)
• The fermentation mode (batch, fed batch,
continuous)
• Aeration and agitation

16. Down stream processing (product recovery)
It includes
•Cell harvesting,
•cell disruption,
• extraction and product purification
•Integration of DSP with the fermentation may
increase productivity
Overall DSP must employ
•Rapid and efficient methods for purification and its
maintenance & stability
•Especially when the product is sensitive like enzymes
•Safe and inexpensive disposal of wastes

17. Fermentation products
The overall economics of fermentation products depends on
•Cost of raw material,
•Consumables,
•utilities,
•labour,
• taxes etc
There may be two main types of fermentation products
1- high volume low value products (food and beverage)
2- low volume high value products (pharmaceuticals
etc)

18. Fermentation products
Food & beverages
•Dairy products (fermentation activity of lactic acid
bacteria)
•Alcoholic beverages, beer & wine (fermentation
activity of yeast)
•Organic acids, vinegar, acetic acid, citric acid etc
(fungal strains)
•Single cell proteins

19. Health care products

• Antibiotics (microbial secondary
metabolites, fungus, actinomycetes)
• 20,000-25,000 antibiotics have been isolated,
almost 300-400 are in use
• Most famous are β-Lactum antibiotics,
penicilline and cephalosporins
• Aminoglycosides, Tetracyclines, Macrolides etc
Fermentation products

20. Fermentation products
Microbial enzymes
•Extracellular hydrolytic enzymes
•Proteases (washing powders etc)
•Amylases (starch saccharification)
•Glucose isomerase
Industrial chemicals and fuels
•Alcohols
•Acetone
•Raw materials for bioplastics etc

21. Environmental role
•Waste water treatment
•Degradation of xenobiotic compounds
•Metal reduction
•Leeching of metals (copper, iron, uranium etc)
•Bio control (replacement of pesticides and
insecticides)