Industrial Fermenters (Edexcel IGCSE Biology)

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Industrial Fermenters

  • Fermenters are containers used to grow (‘culture’) microorganisms like bacteria and fungi in large amounts
  • These can then be used for brewing beer, making yoghurt and mycoprotein and other processes not involving food, like producing genetically modified bacteria and moulds that produce antibiotics (e.g. penicillin)
  • The advantage of using a fermenter is that conditions can be carefully controlled to produce large quantities of exactly the right type of microorganism

Industrial fermenter

A diagram of an industrial fermenter used to produce large quantities of microorganisms

Controlling conditions in an industrial fermenter table

Condition Why and how is it controlled?
Aseptic precautions Fermenter is cleaned by steam to kill microorganisms and prevent chemical contamination, which ensures only the desired microorganisms will grow
Nutrients (e.g. glucose) Nutrients are needed for use in respiration to release energy for growth and to ensure the microorganisms are able to reproduce
Optimum temperature Temperature is monitored using probes and maintained using the water jacket to ensure an optimum environment for enzymes to increase enzyme activity (enzymes will denature if the temperature is too high or work too slowly if it is too low)
Optimum pH pH inside the fermenter is monitored using a probe to check it is at the optimum value for the particular microorganism being grown. The pH can be adjusted, if necessary, using acids or alkalis
Oxygenation Oxygen is needed for aerobic respiration to take place
Agitation Stirring paddles ensure that microorganisms, nutrients, oxygen, temperature and pH are evenly distributed throughout the fermenter

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Lára

Author: Lára

Expertise: Biology Lead

Lára graduated from Oxford University in Biological Sciences and has now been a science tutor working in the UK for several years. Lára has a particular interest in the area of infectious disease and epidemiology, and enjoys creating original educational materials that develop confidence and facilitate learning.