Industrial Microbiology

Aims & Objectives:

• Screening and isolation of useful microorganisms.
• Bench scale fermentation to study productivity, yield, substrate range, optimization of pro­duction parameters, and the potential for larger scale operation.
• Bioreactor configurations, instrumentation and control, the kinetics of microbial growth, the mathematical basis of bioreactor design, operation and modelling.
• Fermentation products (organisms; substrates; conditions; processing).
• Immobilized microorganisms and biocatalysts.
• Methods for yield improvement.
• Techniques and equipment for harvesting and downstream processing.
• Economics of fermentation.

At the end of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• Identify what features characterise industrial microbiological processes.
• Discuss and evaluate the different activities that constitute industrial microbiology.
• Understand how the metabolic capabilities of microorganisms can be exploited, and demonstrate this understanding by discussing generic examples.

Culture microorganisms using a production protocol; perform fermentations with quantification of key production parameters; and analyse fermentation performance in terms of yield coefficients.

Teaching Methods:

Lectures, practical sessions in the laboratory, report writing and field visits.

Lectures will be used to provide basic information and encourage students to carry out independent learning tasks whilst field visits will be used to illustrate the relevance of course material to real world situations. 

Laboratory exercises will provide training in specific scientific tasks and report writing skills will provide students with life-long abilities in scientific communications.

Assessment:

Lab work and proficiency (10%); Report writing (40%), Examination (50%)

Generic Skills Outcomes:

• teamwork skills,
• analysis skills,
• problem solving skills,
• communications skills,
• ability to tackle unfamiliar problems, and
• ability to work independently

Content:

• Isolation, screening and selection of useful microorganisms. Maintenance and preservation of microorganisms
• Model of microbial growth. Batch, semi-batch, fed-batch and continuous culture
• Bioreactor operation and design considerations:
• upstream processing: medium design; raw materials; sterilization
• methods of aeration and agitation
• methods of control; sensors; instrumentation; computer control
• bioreactor configurations: stirred tank; airlift; tower; packed bed; fluidized bed etc
• Fermentation products:
• organic acids; antibiotics; amino acids; enzymes; baker's yeast; beverages; inoculants; bio­cidal agents; single cell protein
• products of microbial transformations
• products from eucaryotic cells and recombinant DNA microorganisms
• Immobilized microorganisms and biocatalysts in biotransformations
• Methods of yield improvement
• Scale up
• Product harvesting and downstream processing
• Fermentation economics; patents; marketing

Reading Materials:

El-Mansi, E.M.T.; Bryce, C.F.A.; Demain, A.L., Allman, A.R. (2008) Fermentation microbiology and biotechnology. CRC/Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton.

Waites, M.J.; Morgan, N.L.; Rockey, J.S and Higton, G. (2001) Industrial microbiology: An introduction. Osney Mead, Oxford.

Doran, P.M. (2005)  Bioprocess engineering principles. Academic Press, San Diego.

Glazer, A. N. and Nikaido, H. (2007) Microbial biotechnology: Fundamentals of applied microbiology. Cambridge University press, Cambridge.

Ray, B. and Arun, B. (2008) Fundamental Food Microbiology. CRC press, Boca Raton.