Fermentation Microbiology and Biotechnology

Description

Fermentation has been applied to many areas of human life, including industrial production, sewage treatment, and environment management. By understanding the process and mechanism of fermentation, more comprehensive and profound cognition of the fermentation may be established to lay a foundation for our further research. Fermentation is generally defined as the production of foods, beverages, or other useful metabolites by aerobic or anaerobic microorganisms via enzymatic conversions of substrates and controlled microbial growth. Fermentation operates via the natural activities of microorganisms; metabolism, which ensures the growth and reproduction of microorganisms, is one of the basic characteristics of natural microbial activities. Metabolism involves the degradation of substrates and the growth, reproduction, aging, and death of microbes, and it is accompanied by the production and alteration of different metabolites. The fermentation is called batch fermentation when it is operated for a definite period. On the other hand, fermentation which is operated for an indefinite period it is called continuous fermentation. Some of the organisms are sensitive to substrate concentration and they are inhibited when the substratum is in high concentration. Under such conditions, fermentation can be carried by addition of substrates in installments and the process is called Fed batch fermentation. The book is written in a manner suited to the undergraduate and postgraduate of microbiology/industrial microbiology curses.