Fermenter Assembly and Systems

Fermentation:
It is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases or alcohol. It
occurs in yeast and bacteria, and also in oxygen-starved muscle cells, as in the case
0f lactic acid fermentation. Fermentation is also used more broadly to refer to the
bulk growth of microorganisms on a growth medium, often with the goal of
producing a specific chemical product.
Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic
substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as
the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen.

Fermentor or Fermentor System:

Fermentation is carried out in vessels known as fermenters. OR
A fermenter is basically a device in which the substrate of low value is utilized by
living cells or enzymes to generate a product of higher value. It is a containment
system designed to give right environment for optimal growth and metabolic
activity of the organism
Fermentors are very large vessels that are required for growing microbes for the
production of beverages and antibiotics on an industrial scale. OR
A fermenter can be a simple vessel but if it is connected to complex integrated
system of automated control, then it is termed as fermenter system. OR
A fermentor or fermentation chamber is a type of bioreactor for containing and
controlling fermenter microorganisms. Fermentation is an economical route to
important raw materials (ethanol, lactic acid) and fermented foods.
Fermenter systems can be used in many designs made up of different materials
which depends upon its applications in different scales. Fermenter designs consists
of materials that are being used in fermenter systems and conditions for fermenter
systems, sterilization, temperature control, agitator, spargers.
Uses of fermenter / BASIC FUNCTION OF FERMENTER:
 Provide a controlled environment for optimum product yield.
 Power consumption should be minimum.
  Facility for sampling should be provided.
 Evaporation losses should be as low as possible.
 It should have smooth internal surfaces and joints should be welded
wherever possible.
 Provide adequate mixing and aeration for optimum growth and production
of metabolites.
Two basic types of fermenter
1) A glass vessel with a round or flat bottom and a top flanged carrying plate.
(sterilized by autoclaving).
2) A glass cylinder with stainless steel top and bottom plates.

COMPONENTS OF FERMENTER
1) BODY: - Fermenter are made with glass or stainless steel .
Glass is useful because it gives smooth surfaces , non- toxic , corrosion proof and
easy to to examine the interior of the vessel.
In pilot scale or industrial scale vessels are normally constructed with stainless
steel, or sometime chromium, nickel may be used.
2) Seal separate top plate from glass vessel, used for to prevent air leakage.
a) Gasket seal b) lip seal c) O ring seal
With glass and metal, a seal can be made with a compressible gasket, lip seal is
used.
With metal to metal joints only an ‘o” ring is suitable.
3) Agitator: - (impeller): Agitation: brisk stirring or disturbance of a liquid.
Agitator is required to achieve a number of mixing objectives. The medium must
be suitably stirred to keep the cells in suspension and to make the culture
homogeneous. Agitators achieve the following objectives;
Bulk fluid and gas phase mixing
Air dispersion
Oxygen transfer
 Heat transfer
suspension of solid particles
Maintaining a uniform environment throughout the vessel contents.
Agitation: brisk stirring or disturbance of a liquid (for aeration)
The following components of the fermenter are required for aeration and agitation:
(i) agitator (impeller)
(ii) stirrer glands and bearings
(iii) Baffles
(iv) sparger (the aeration system).

Agitator may be classified as:

a). Disc turbine, b). vaned discs,
c). open turbine of variable pitch d). propellers.

Agitator

4) Baffles:
Baffles are metal strip roughly one tenth of the vessel diameter and attached
radially to fermenter wall. They are normally used in fermenters having agitators to
prevent vortex formation and to improve aeration efficiency.
Four baffles are normally incorporated into agitated vessels of all sizes to prevent a
vortex and to improve aeration efficiency.
5) Spargers:- Sparger is a device which introducing air into a fermenter. OR The
device used to introduce air into the fermenter broth is called sparger.
Three types of sparger:
1). Orifice sparger 2).Porous sparger 3). Nozzle sparger
Porous spargers may be made of sintered glass, ceramics or a metal.
 TYPES OF FERMENTER
1)Stirred tank bioreactor
2)Airlift bioreactor
3)Packed bed bioreactor
4)Fluidized bed bioreactor

1) . CONTINOUS STIRRED TANK REACTOR:

CSTR consists of cylindrical vessel with motor driven shaft that supports one or
more agitations.
High input required.
Baffles are constructed with in built in.
Application include production of antibiotics and free / immobilized enzymes •
Drawback is that high shear forces may break the cells.
2). AIR LIFT REACTORS:
In air lift reactor medium of the vessel is divided into two interconnected zones.
a) Riser: broth rises through this tube
b) Down comer: broth flow down through this tube.
Homogenization of all components present.
Bacterial, animal, plant, fungi and yeast cells culture can be grown in this reactors.
3). PACKED BED REACTOR:
A bed of solid particles, with biocatalysts or within the matrix of solids, packed in
a column constitutes a packed bed bioreactor.
Packed bed reactor is used for aerobic treatment of waste.
Pump is required to make fluid move through the packed bed.
Application include waste water treatment
4). FLUIDIZED BED REACTOR:
In this reactor fluid (gas or liquid) is passed through a solid granular material at
high velocity to suspend the solid.
When the packed beds are operated in up – flow mode, the bed expands at high
liquid flow rates due to upward motion of the particles.
Energy is required.
Waste water treatment.
Types of fermentation
1) Surface (Solid state): Microorganism are cultivated on the surface of a liquid or
solid substrate. E.g. Mushroom, cocoa etc.
2) Submerged fermentation: Microorganism grow in a liquid medium. E.g.
protein, antibiotics, enzymes are carried out by submersion processes.
 Types on the basis of culture
1. Batch fermentation: Batch culture is closed culture system which contains
limited amount of nutrients.
2. Continuous fermentation: It is open culture system where nutrients are
continuously added to fermenter and products are continuously removed at same
rate.
3. Fed batch: when a batch culture is subsequently fed with fresh nutrient medium
without removing the growing culture, it is called fed – batch culture.
Fed –batch culture allows one to supplements the medium with such nutrients that
are depleted or that may have needed for terminal stages of the culture. E.g. of
secondary production of metabolites.

Difference between bioreactor and fermenter:

The main difference between bioreactor and fermentor is that the bioreactor is
the vessel that facilitates various types of biochemical reactions whereas
the fermentor is the vessel that facilitates fermentation. Therefore, fermentor is a
TYPE OF BIOREACTOR.
• A bioreactor is a device in which a substrate of low value is utilized by
living cells or enzymes to generate a product of higher value. Bioreactors are
extensively used for food processing, fermentation, waste treatment, etc.
• On the basis of the agent used, bioreactors are grouped into the following
two broad classes:
(i) Those based on living cells
(ii) Those employing enzymes.
But in terms of process requirements, they are of the following types:
(i) Aerobic
(ii) Anaerobic
(iii) solid state
(iv) immobilized cell bioreactors.

Difference between fermenter and fermentor

fermenter can mean either the enzyme or the fermentation apparatus,
whereas fermentor can only be used to mean the apparatus. Fermentor is a
container in which fermentation takes place; fermenter can be that container, or an
organism that causes fermentation.
Industrial fermentation is the intentional use
of fermentation by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi as well as eukaryotic
cells like CHO cells and insect cells, to make products useful to humans.
Fermented products have applications as food as well as in general industry. Some
commodity chemicals, such as acetic acid, citric acid, and ethanol are made by
fermentation.
The rate of fermentation depends on the concentration of microorganisms, cells,
cellular components, and enzymes as well as temperature, pH and for aerobic
fermentation oxygen.
Product recovery frequently involves the concentration of the dilute solution.
Nearly all commercially produced enzymes, such as lipase, invertase and rennet,
are made by fermentation with genetically modified microbes.
In some cases, production of biomass itself is the objective, as in the case
of baker's yeast and lactic acid bacteria starter cultures for cheese-making.
In general, fermentations can be divided into four types:

 Production of biomass (viable cellular material)

 Production of extracellular metabolites (chemical compounds)
 Production of intracellular components (enzymes and other proteins)
 Transformation of substrate (in which the transformed substrate is itself the
product)
These types are not necessarily disjoint from each other, but provide a framework
for understanding the differences in approach. The organisms used may be
bacteria, yeasts, molds, algae, animal cells, or plant cells. Special considerations
are required for the specific organisms used in the fermentation, such as the
dissolved oxygen level, nutrient levels, and temperature.