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Influence of mold growth on the pressure drop in aerated solid state fermentors
Author(s) -
Auria Richard,
Morales Marcia,
Villegas Elba,
Revah Sergio
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.260411102
Subject(s) - solid state fermentation , bagasse , aeration , biomass (ecology) , chemistry , fermentation , industrial fermentation , aspergillus niger , pressure drop , permeability (electromagnetism) , sunflower seed , drop (telecommunication) , botany , food science , sunflower , pulp and paper industry , horticulture , agronomy , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , biochemistry , thermodynamics , telecommunications , physics , organic chemistry , membrane , computer science , engineering
The measurement of pressure drop(Δ P ) across an aerated fermentation bed is proposed as alternative on‐line sensor for the qualitative and, in some cases, quantitative, macroscopic changes in a static solid state fermentor. An increase in the Δ P is correlated with the evolution of the different phases of Aspergillus niger growth: germination, vegetative growth, limitation, and sporulation, we observed in the microscope. For the case where the support is not modified during the fermentation and the water content remains constant, i.e., a synthetic resin (Amberlite IRA‐900), the gas phase permeability of the bed is directly related to the biomass content. For example, the permeability of the bed is reduced to 5% of the initial value when biomass attains 21 mg dry biomass/g dry support. Biomass was appropriately predicted from the Δ P measurements in an independent test. Experiments with different initial sucrose solution concentrations showed that biomass could not be produced beyond a certain level (21.5 mg dry biomass/g dry support) which suggests steric limitations. For the case of wheat bran and cane bagasse, the increase in Δ P was related qualitatively to the evolution in the growth and the morphology of the mold . © 1993 Wiley & Sons, Inc.