Basic Of Fermentation Technology
Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substances through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food production, it may more broadly refer to any process in which the activity of microorganisms brings about a desirable change to a foodstuff or beverage.[1] The science of fermentation is known as zymology.
Basic of Fermentation Technology
Humans have used fermentation to produce foodstuffs and beverages since the Neolithic age. For example, fermentation is used for preservation in a process that produces lactic acid found in such sour foods as pickled cucumbers, kombucha, kimchi, and yogurt, as well as for producing alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer. Fermentation also occurs within the gastrointestinal tracts of all animals, including humans.[2]
Fermentation reacts the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) with an endogenous, organic electron acceptor.[11] Usually this is pyruvate formed from sugar through glycolysis. The reaction produces oxidized NAD+ and an organic product, typical examples being ethanol, lactic acid, and hydrogen gas (H2), and often also carbon dioxide. However, more exotic compounds can be produced by fermentation, such as butyric acid and acetone. Fermentation products are considered waste products, since they cannot be metabolized further without the use of oxygen.[citation needed]
Fermentation normally occurs in an anaerobic environment. In the presence of O2, NADH, and pyruvate are used to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in respiration. This is called oxidative phosphorylation. This generates much more ATP than glycolysis alone. For this reason, fermentation is rarely used when oxygen is available. However, even in the presence of abundant oxygen, some strains of yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae prefer fermentation to aerobic respiration as long as there is an adequate supply of sugars (a phenomenon known as the Crabtree effect).[12] Some fermentation processes involve obligate anaerobes, which cannot tolerate oxygen.[citation needed]
Although yeast carries out the fermentation in the production of ethanol in beers, wines, and other alcoholic drinks, this is not the only possible agent: bacteria carry out the fermentation in the production of xanthan gum.[citation needed]
In ethanol fermentation, one glucose molecule is converted into two ethanol molecules and two carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules.[13][14] It is used to make bread dough rise: the carbon dioxide forms bubbles, expanding the dough into a foam.[15][16] The ethanol is the intoxicating agent in alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer and liquor.[17] Fermentation of feedstocks, including sugarcane, maize, and sugar beets, produces ethanol that is added to gasoline.[18] In some species of fish, including goldfish and carp, it provides energy when oxygen is scarce (along with lactic acid fermentation).[19]
Before fermentation, a glucose molecule breaks down into two pyruvate molecules (glycolysis). The energy from this exothermic reaction is used to bind inorganic phosphates to ADP, which converts it to ATP, and convert NAD+ to NADH. The pyruvates break down into two acetaldehyde molecules and give off two carbon dioxide molecules as waste products. The acetaldehyde is reduced into ethanol using the energy and hydrogen from NADH, and the NADH is oxidized into NAD+ so that the cycle may repeat. The reaction is catalyzed by the enzymes pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase.[13]
Homolactic fermentation (producing only lactic acid) is the simplest type of fermentation. Pyruvate from glycolysis[20] undergoes a simple redox reaction, forming lactic acid.[21][22] Overall, one molecule of glucose (or any six-carbon sugar) is converted to two molecules of lactic acid:
It occurs in the muscles of animals when they need energy faster than the blood can supply oxygen. It also occurs in some kinds of bacteria (such as lactobacilli) and some fungi. It is the type of bacteria that convert lactose into lactic acid in yogurt, giving it its sour taste. These lactic acid bacteria can carry out either homolactic fermentation, where the end-product is mostly lactic acid, or heterolactic fermentation, where some lactate is further metabolized to ethanol and carbon dioxide[21] (via the phosphoketolase pathway), acetate, or other metabolic products, e.g.:
Heterolactic fermentation is in a sense intermediate between lactic acid fermentation and other types, e.g. alcoholic fermentation. Reasons to go further and convert lactic acid into something else include:
Hydrogen gas is produced in many types of fermentation as a way to regenerate NAD+ from NADH. Electrons are transferred to ferredoxin, which in turn is oxidized by hydrogenase, producing H2.[13] Hydrogen gas is a substrate for methanogens and sulfate reducers, which keep the concentration of hydrogen low and favor the production of such an energy-rich compound,[23] but hydrogen gas at a fairly high concentration can nevertheless be formed, as in flatus.[citation needed]
In food and industrial contexts, any chemical modification performed by a living being in a controlled container can be termed "fermentation". The following do not fall into the biochemical sense, but are called fermentation in the larger sense:
Industrial fermentation can be used for enzyme production, where proteins with catalytic activity are produced and secreted by microorganisms. The development of fermentation processes, microbial strain engineering and recombinant gene technologies has enabled the commercialization of a wide range of enzymes. Enzymes are used in all kinds of industrial segments, such as food (lactose removal, cheese flavor), beverage (juice treatment), baking (bread softness, dough conditioning), animal feed, detergents (protein, starch and lipid stain removal), textile, personal care and pulp and paper industries.[27]
Most industrial fermentation uses batch or fed-batch procedures, although continuous fermentation can be more economical if various challenges, particularly the difficulty of maintaining sterility, can be met.[28]
The high cost of sterilizing the fermentor between batches can be avoided using various open fermentation approaches that are able to resist contamination. One is to use a naturally evolved mixed culture. This is particularly favored in wastewater treatment, since mixed populations can adapt to a wide variety of wastes. Thermophilic bacteria can produce lactic acid at temperatures of around 50 Celsius, sufficient to discourage microbial contamination; and ethanol has been produced at a temperature of 70 C. This is just below its boiling point (78 C), making it easy to extract. Halophilic bacteria can produce bioplastics in hypersaline conditions. Solid-state fermentation adds a small amount of water to a solid substrate; it is widely used in the food industry to produce flavors, enzymes and organic acids.[28]
In continuous fermentation, substrates are added and final products removed continuously.[28] There are three varieties: chemostats, which hold nutrient levels constant; turbidostats, which keep cell mass constant; and plug flow reactors in which the culture medium flows steadily through a tube while the cells are recycled from the outlet to the inlet.[30] If the process works well, there is a steady flow of feed and effluent and the costs of repeatedly setting up a batch are avoided. Also, it can prolong the exponential growth phase and avoid byproducts that inhibit the reactions by continuously removing them. However, it is difficult to maintain a steady state and avoid contamination, and the design tends to be complex.[28] Typically the fermentor must run for over 500 hours to be more economical than batch processors.[30]
The use of fermentation, particularly for beverages, has existed since the Neolithic and has been documented dating from 7000 to 6600 BCE in Jiahu, China,[31] 5000 BCE in India, Ayurveda mentions many Medicated Wines, 6000 BCE in Georgia,[32] 3150 BCE in ancient Egypt,[33] 3000 BCE in Babylon,[34] 2000 BCE in pre-Hispanic Mexico,[34] and 1500 BC in Sudan.[35] Fermented foods have a religious significance in Judaism and Christianity. The Baltic god Rugutis was worshiped as the agent of fermentation.[36][37]
In 1877, working to improve the French brewing industry, Pasteur published his famous paper on fermentation, "Etudes sur la Bière", which was translated into English in 1879 as "Studies on fermentation".[42] He defined fermentation (incorrectly) as "Life without air",[43] yet he correctly showed how specific types of microorganisms cause specific types of fermentations and specific end-products.[citation needed]
Although showing fermentation resulted from the action of living microorganisms was a breakthrough, it did not explain the basic nature of fermentation; nor, prove it is caused by microorganisms which appear to be always present. Many scientists, including Pasteur, had unsuccessfully attempted to extract the fermentation enzyme from yeast.[43]
Buechner's results are considered to mark the birth of biochemistry. The "unorganized ferments" behaved just like the organized ones. From that time on, the term enzyme came to be applied to all ferments. It was then understood fermentation is caused by enzymes produced by microorganisms.[45] In 1907, Buechner won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work.[46]
Advances in microbiology and fermentation technology have continued steadily up until the present. For example, in the 1930s, it was discovered microorganisms could be mutated with physical and chemical treatments to be higher-yielding, faster-growing, tolerant of less oxygen, and able to use a more concentrated medium.[47][48] Strain selection and hybridization developed as well, affecting most modern food fermentations.[citation needed] 041b061a72