Fermentation experiments

Bioreactors in our laboratory.

Our team is experienced in doing several kinds of fermentation experiments. These experiments consist of fermentations with sugars obtained from cellulose / hemicellulose (the hydrolysate) as carbon source. The purpose of these experiments is to check the suitability of the sugar stream for a certain application. Micro-organisms may, for example, be inhibited by other released components (like phenol derived components) within the pretreatment steps. Optimization (and finding balances between pretreatment procedures) of yield and productivity for a certain application is needed.

Fermentation for industrial purposes

Fermentation is a biological process in which enzymes produced by microorganisms catalyze chemical reactions that break simple sugars or amino acids into lower molecular weight materials such as organic acids and neutral solvents such as ethanol. An enormous variety of bacteria, yeasts, and fungi are of interest for biorefining through fermentation. Although organisms exist to break down virtually any organic material, six carbon sugars, and especially glucose, are widely available in the plant and animal world. A wide variety or microorganisms exist to ferment these sugars. These microorganisms digest simple one and two molecule sugars to produce the energy and chemicals they need to live and reproduce, and give off byproducts such as carbondioxide, organic acids, hydrogen, ethanol, and other products. Commercial production of ethanol through fermentation is well established. Most other products are specialty chemicals. Ethanol is the most common compound produced through commercial fermentation, but many different organic chemicals, mainly acids and alcohols, can be produced through fermentation.