Medi a Fo r

Ind ust ri al
Ferm ent ation
 Intr oduc ti on
 All microorganisms (microbes, animals,
plants) - require water, energy sources,
carbon, nitrogen, mineral elements,
vitamins if needed & oxygen if aerobic
• The media is the feed solution
- It must contain the essential nutrients
needed for the microbe to grow
 Medium formulation for small scale may
not be suitable for large scale
 A define formulation would be very
expensive medium at large scale
• Factors of consideration when choosing
media
- Quality consistence and availability
 Cont…
 On a large scale one must normally use sources
of nutrients to create a medium which will meet
as many as possible of the following criteria:
 produce the max yield/concentration of
product/biomass of substrate used
 permit the max rate of product formation
 minimum yield of undesired products
 consistent quality and be readily available
throughout the year
 cause minimal problems during media making
and sterilization
 cause minimal problems in other aspects:
aeration, agitation, extraction, purification,
waste treatment
Media F or mu la ti on

 Constituents of a medium must satisfy

the elemental requirements for cell
biomass & metabolite production
 Adequate supply of energy for
biosynthesis & cell maintenance
C & energy source + N + other
requirements cell biomass +
product + CO2 + H2O + heat
Wat er

 Major component of all fermentation

media & needed in many of the
ancillary services: heating, cooling,
cleaning
 When assessing the suitability of a
water supply it is important to consider
pH, dissolved salts & effluent
contamination
En er gy Sour ce s

 From oxidation of medium components

or from carbohydrates, lipids, proteins,
alkanes etc
 Some micro-organism can also use
hydrocarbon or methanol as carbon &
energy sources
Carb on S ourc es
 Carbohydrate (sugar cane, beet molasses,
maize grains, starch, potatoes), glucose, oils
(palm oil, olive)
 The rate at which the C source is
metabolized can often influence the
formation of biomass or production of
primary or secondary metabolites
 Fast growth due to high concentrations of
rapidly metabolized sugars is often
associated with low productivity of
secondary metabolites
 Main product of a fermentation will often
determine the choice of C source
 Cont. .

 The method of sterilization will also

influence the choice of C source
 e.g. sugars usually sterilize separately
to avoid rxn with NH+4 & amino acids
- form black nitrogen containing
compounds which will partially inhibit
the growth of many microorganism
Nit rogen Sour ces
 Nitrogen sources: inorganic (ammonia gas,
ammonium salts, nitrates) & organic (amino
acids, protein, urea)
 Complex organic N sources: yeast extract,
beef extract, peptone, soy meal
 N source has been shown to influence
fermentation pattern e.g. antibiotic
production may be inhibited by a rapidly
utilized N source
Min er als

 All microorganisms require certain

mineral elements for growth and
metabolism
 Main: magnesium, phosphorus,
potassium, sulphur, chlorine, calsium
 Others: cobalt, copper, iron,
manganase
Gr owt h F act ors
 Some micro-organisms cannot synthesize a full
complement of cell components & therefore
require compounds call “growth factors”
 The growth factors most commonly required
are vitamins but there may also be a need for
specific amino acids, fatty acids or sterols
 Many natural C and N sources contain all or
some of the required growth factors
 Vitamins deficiency is eliminated by careful
blending of materials
 If only one vitamin is required it may be
occasionally more economical to add the pure
vitamin instead of using a larger bulk of a
cheaper multiple vitamin sources
Bu ffe rs
 Control of pH is important if optimal
productivity is to be achieved
 A compound may be added to serve specifically
as buffer or may also used a nutrient source
e.g. KH2PO4 and K2HPO4
 pH may also be externally controlled by
addition of ammonia or NaOH and H2SO4
 Balanced used of C and N sources will also
form a basis for pH control as buffering
capacity can be provided by the proteins,
peptide and amino acids
Th e Add ition of P rec urso rs &
Me tab olic R eg ul ators to Me di a

 Precursors, inhibitors, inducers

 May be added to manipulate the progress of
fermentation
 Pre cursor s

- when added to certain fermentation,

directly incorporated into the desired
product
e.g. phenylacetic acid in the production
penicillin G
 Inh ibitors
- Added to fermentations, more of a
specific product may be produced or
a metabolic intermediate which is
normally metabolized is accumulated
- in most cases, inhibitors are
effective in increasing the yield of
the desired products and reducing
the yield of undesired related
products
- e.g. sodium bisulphite in glycerol
 Induce rs
- mostly to induce enzyme synthesis
or activation
- e.g. Β-galactosidase in E. coli is
induced by the presence of lactose
- inducers in this case either lactose
or molecule that has similar structure
to lactose
Ox ygen R equir em ents
 Medium may influence the oxygen
availability in a number of ways:
 fast metabolism: if rapidly metabolized
substrates are present in high concentration
 rheology: if medium viscous results in
difficulty for good mixing & oxygen transfer
 antifoam: many of these act as surface
active agents & reduce the oxygen transfer
rate
 Cont…

 O2 normally added continuously as

filtered air or mixture of O2 and air or
pure O2 to the fermentation
 For aerobic process, its availability
determine the rate-limiting step for
growth and metabolite production
 An ideal antifoam:
- disperse readily and have fast action on an
existing foam
- active at low concentration
- long acting in preventing new foam formation
- not be metabolized by the micro-organism
- non-toxic to the micro-organism
- non-toxic to human & animals
- not cause any problems in the extraction and
purification of the product
- not cause any handling hazard
- cheap
- no effect on oxygen transfer
Medium Op tim izat ion

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