FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES
LESSON 10:
STERILIZATION
Learning Objectives
In this lecture, you will learn
• Sterilization of culture media
• Kinetics of sterilization
• Heat exchanger designs
Introduction
Hello students, now that we have seen about the fermentation
medium, let’s see about another important aspect of the
fermentation process viz. the sterilization. It would not be
difficult to imagine the reasons behind the need to sterilize the
fermentation medium, equipments and the air used for
sparging. During the course of fermentation, we are interested
in the growth of the desired organism only and hence, as far as
possible, all contaminants should be kept at bay. This may not
be always possible and indeed, some fermentations are found
to be contaminated especially during the later stages. In some
fermentations, the cost of sterilization becomes prohibitive
especially if the final selling price of the product is low. But in
virtually all fermentation processes, it is mandatory to have
contamination free seed cultures at all stages, from the
preliminary culture to the fermentor.
What will happen if the fermentation is carried out under non
sterile conditions?
1. Loss of productivity because of contaminant growth
overtaking that of the desired organism.
2. Total displacement of the desired organism by contaminants
especially in continuous fermentations.
3. Contamination of the final product/s by the contaminating
organisms especially when the final product is cell mass. ( e.g.
SCP )
4. Interference in the final recovery process due to
contamination
5. Contamination of an antagonistic / pathogenic organism
could result into rapid death of the host organism bringing
the fermentation to a complete halt.
• All right. Now, what are the major considerations to be
made during the sterilization operations?
Ideally, all the inputs required for the fermentation should
retain a state of absolute sterility all the time. First, there is
the fermentor vessel to be sterilized. Fermentors can be
sterilized either by destroying the viable microorganisms by a
physical procedure such as filtration. Then we have to
sterilize the culture media and the incoming and outgoing
air. Additionally, attention has to be paid to the appropriate
construction of the bioreactor for sterilization and for
prevention of contamination during fermentation. We will
now see these operations in details.
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Sterilization of the culture Media
Nutrient media as initially prepared contain a variety of different
vegetative cells and spores, derived from the constituents of the
culture medium, the water and the vessel. These must be
eliminated by a suitable means before inoculation. A number
of means are available for sterilization, but in practice heat is the
most often used mechanism.
A number of factors influence the success of heat sterilization:
the number and type of microorganisms present, the
composition of the culture medium, the pH value, and the size
of the suspended particles. Vegetative cells are rapidly eliminated
at relatively low temperatures such as 600C for 5-10 minutes, but
for destruction of spores, temperatures of 1210C are needed
during 15 minutes.
During heat sterilization there is always the possibility of
destroying ingredients in the medium. Apart from the
degradation of heat-labile components, also contributes to the
loss of nutrient quality during sterilization. A common
phenomenon is the occurrence of the Maillard-type browing
reactions, which cause discoloration of the medium as well as
loss of nutrient quality. These reactions are normally caused by
carbonyl groups, usually from reducing sugars, interacting with
amino groups from amino acids and proteins. Separate
sterilization of the carbohydrate component of the medium
may be necessary to prevent such reactions.
• What’s the alternative then, to heat sterilization?
Filter sterilization is often used for all components of
nutrient solutions, which are heat sensitive. Sugars, vitamins,
antibiotics or blood components are examples of heat-labile
components which must be sterilized by filtration.
Most nutrient media are presently sterilized in batch volumes
in the bioreactor at 1210C. Approximate sterilization times
can be calculated from the nature of the medium and the
size of the fermentor. Not only the nutrient media, but also
the fitting, valves and electrodes of the fermentor itself must
be sterilized. Therefor, actual sterilization times are
significantly longer than calculated ones and must be
empirically determined for the specific nutrient solutions in
the fermentor. Smaller fermentors are sterilized in an
autoclave while larger fermentors are sterilized by indirect or
direct steam injection.
• ·Ok. That was about the sterilization of media. How do
we then sterilize the air that is used for the
fermentations?
Most fermentations are operated under high aeration and the
air supplied to the fermentor must be sterilized. The
number of particles and microorganisms in air varies greatly
depending on the location, air movement, and previous
treatment of the air. On the average, outdoor air has 10-
100,000 particles per m3 and 5-2,000 microorganisms per
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 m3. Of these, 50% are fungus spores and 40% are Gram-
FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES
negative bacteria.
Fermentors generally work with aeration rates of 0.5-2 vvm
(air volume/liquid volume per minute). The methods
available for sterilizing gases include filtration, gas injection
(ozone), gas scrubbing, radiation (UV) and heat. Of these,
only filtration and heat are practical.
Can you tell me why the other methods are not practical? Use
the space below to express your thoughts.
• Tell me more about the sterilization of air by filtration.
The volume of air handled during aerobic fermentations is
very high. Very large compressors are used, and at least two
are required so that one can be down for maintenance.
In the past, air filters were columns that approached
diameters of one-fourth of the fermenter diameter. The
packing was slag wool that lumped up with repeated use,
fiberglass that broke down because of repeated thermal
expansion and contraction, or beads of carbon that
sometime underwent spontaneous combustion and melted
the column. Carbon packing works fairly well but is too
bulky. Currently, there is a pronounced trend to use of
membrane filters in a cartridge configuration for air
sterilization to obtain excellent performance with units of
relatively small size.
Moisture is bad for all methods of air sterilization and may
help microorganisms to pass. A membrane pore size of 0.2
to 0.3 micrometers is recommended. Hydrophilic
membranes should not be used because moisture held
tightly in the pores is not dislodged unless there is quite
high-pressure drop across the membrane. Moisture tends to
drain from hydrophobic membranes and collect in a sump.
The units are modular and housed in a shell with a
manifold. Sizing is based on the number of cartridges
needed.
• Can we use filters for the air that is going out of the
fermentors?
As a rule, the air going out of all fermentations should be
free of living organisms, microbial products or spores.
Because of all the problems mentioned above, filtration is
not a reliable method for the control of organisms in the air
that is leaving the fermentor.
Air leaving a vessel in which pathogenic organisms are
cultured is sterilized by heating. Air in a room for culturing
microorganisms may be exposed to ultraviolet light to
reduce the number of potential contaminants. Ultraviolet
light penetrates poorly through glass, so organisms in shake
flasks are not killed. It is also necessary to regularly replace the
ultraviolet source if its continued efficacy is desired. Usually,
a single light switch turns on white light before a person
enters, and the Ultraviolet goes on when the person flips the
switch on leaving.
There are also ultraviolet lights mounted in flow devices for
water sterilization, but quartz bulbs or enclosures are needed
to get out of the altering of Ultraviolet wavelengths. Such
devices are also plagued by turbidity in the water and by dirt
forming on the transparent surfaces.
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There have been some attempts to commercialize enzymatic
sterilization of air. The basic concept is to bring
microorganisms and viruses into contact with enzymes that
attack nucleic acids. Viruses are destroyed by passage through
a web of surfaces coated with deoxyribonuclease enzymes.
• You mentioned about the design of the fermentor
affecting the process of sterilization. How?
The fermentor design should not encourage contamination
at any stage. There should be a minimum number of
openings in the fermentor to favor maintenance sterility.
Small openings must be made leak proof with O-rings,
larger openings with flat gaskets. Whenever a movable shaft
penetrates the fermentor wall, special problems of sterility
maintenance should be solved. The material of construction
of the fermentor should permit easy and repeated
sterilization. The fermentor vessel should have minimum
dead and inaccessible areas.
• ·Understood. Now how do we carry out the sterilization
operation as such?
Remember,
a) For all sterilization calculations, we are considering the total
no. of organisms present in the volume of the medium to
be sterilized, not the concentration
b) The minimum number of organisms needed to
contaminate a batch is one, regardless of the volume of the
batch.
c) Any system is either sterile or non sterile. Nothing like partial
sterility exists.
The destruction of micro-organisms by steam (moist heat) may
be described as a first-order chemical reaction and, thus, may be
represented by the following equation:
-dN/dt = kN (1)
Where;
N t is the number of viable organisms present,
t is the time of the sterilization treatment,
k is the reaction rate constant of the reaction, or the specific
death rate.
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On integration of equation (1) the following expression is
obtained:
Nt/No = e –kt (2)
Where;
No is the number of viable organism present at the start of
the sterilization
Treatment,
Nt is the number of viable organisms present after a treatment
period t,
On taking natural logarithms, equation (2) is reduced to:
In( Nt/No) = -kt (3)
It is be seen that viable organism number declines
exponentially over the treatment period. A plot of the natural
logarithm of Nt/No against time yields a straight line, the slop
of which equals –k. This kinetics description makes two
predictions which appear anomalous:
1. An infinite time is required to achieve sterile conditions (i.e.
Nt =0)
2. After a certain time there will be less than one viable cell
present.
Thus, in this context, a value of Nt is less than one is
considered in terms of the probability of an organism
surviving the treatment. For example, if it were predicted that a
particular treatment period reduced the population to 0.1 of a
viable organism, this implies that the probability of one
organism surviving the treatment is one in ten. This may be
better expressed in practical terms as a risk of one batch in ten
becoming contaminated by one organism.
As with any first-order reaction, the reaction rate increases with
increase in temperature due to an increase in the reaction rate
constant, which, in the case of the destruction of
microorganisms, is the specific death rate (k). Thus, k is a true,
constant only under constant temperature conditions. The
relationship between temperature and the reaction rate constant
was demonstrated by Arrhenius and may be represented by the
equation:
d Ink/dT =E/RT2 (4)
where
E is the activation energy,
R is the gas constant,
T is the absolute temperature.
On integration equation (4) gives:
K= Ae –E/RT (5)
Where
A is the Arrhenius constant.
On taking natural logarithms, equation (5) becomes:
In k = In A - E/RT. (6)
From equation (6) it may be seen that a plot of In k against the
reciprocal of the absolute temperature will give a straight line.
Such a plot is termed an Arrhenius plot and enables the
calculation of the activation energy and the prediction of the
reaction rate for any temperature. By combining together
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equations (3) and (5), the following expression may be derived
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for the he at sterilization of a pure culture at a constant
temperature:
In N0/Nt = A.t.e –E/RT (7)
Deindoerfer and Humphrey used the term In No/lV, as a
design criterion for sterilization, which has been variously called
the Del factor, Nabla factor and sterilization criterion
represented by the term V. Thus, the Del factor is a measure of
the fractional reduction in viable organism count produced by a
certain he at and time regime. Therefore:
V=In ( N0/Nt )
But, In( N0/Nt ) = kt
And kt = A.t.e –(E/RT)
Thus v=A.t.e–(E/RT) (8)
On rearranging, equation (8) becomes,
In t = E/RT + IN (V/A) (9)
Thus, a plot of the natural logarithm of the time required to
achieve a certain V value against the reciprocal of the absolute
temperature will yield a straight line, the slope of which is
dependent on the activation energy. It is clear that the same
degree of sterilization (V) may be obtained over a wide range of
time and temperature regimes; that is, the same degree of
sterilization may result from treatment at a high temperature for
a short time as from a low temperature for a long time.
• These calculations would work fine for a heat stable
medium wherein no degradation or interaction will take
place between the media ingredients. But what about
natural or crude media?
This is a very valid point. When we are using a crude
medium, for example, molasses, the thermal degradation of
its various components becomes extremely significant.
Sugars, especially are prone to quick thermal degradation.
Extended sterilization periods often drastically reduce the
nutritive value of crude fermentation media, mainly due the
thermal degradation of sugars. Interestingly, when the same
medium is autoclaved only briefly, its nutritive value is found
to increase.
• Why should this happen?
This is because of a ‘cooking effect’ that makes more
nutrients from the crude media available after they are briefly
exposed to heat and pressure. Take the example of
saccarification of starch. When heated under pressure, starch
is hydrolysed to oligosaccharides and sugars, thereby
improving its degradability. Subsequent heating, however,
results in browning and charring of starch thereby making it
less degradable and less nutritive. The reactions between the
carbonyl groups from the reducing sugars and the amino
groups from amino acids and proteins also result in
reduction of nutritive value of the media. Certain amino
acids, vitamins and proteins will also suffer from thermal
degradation thereby making the medium less nutritive.
These problems can be generally solved by separately
sterilizing the heat sensitive ingredients using gentler
methods of sterilization like filtration.
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 Depending on the type of fermentation, there are two
FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES
different types of sterilizations.
• What are those?
See, the two basic types of fermentations from the
operational point of view are batch and continuous
fermentation. Accordingly, sterilization can also be classified
into batch type and continuous sterilization.
First let’s see about batch sterilization.
A1though a batch sterilization process is less successful in
avoiding the destruction of nutrients than a continuous one,
the objective in designing a batch process is still to achieve
the required probability of obtaining sterility with the
minimum loss of nutritive quality. ‘The highest temperature
which appears to be feasible for batch sterilization is 121°C
so the procedure should be designed such that exposure of
the medium to this temperature is kept to a minimum. This
is achieved by taking into account the contribution made to
the sterilization by the heating and cooling periods of the
batch treatment.
• What do we need to know when we are designing a batch
sterilization process?
(i) A profile of the increase and decrease in the temperature of
the fermentation medium during the heating and cooling
periods of the sterilization cycle.
(ii) The numbers of microorganisms originally present in the
medium.
(iii) The thermal death characteristics of the ‘design’ organism.
As explained earlier this may be Bacillus stearothermophilus or
an alternative organism relevant to the particular
fermentation.
Knowing the original number of organisms present in the
fermenter and the risk of contamination considered
acceptable, the required Del factor may be calculated. A
frequently adopted risk of contamination is 1 in 1000, which
indicates that Nt should equal 10-3 of a viable cell. It is worth
reinforcing at this stage that we are considering the total
number of organisms present in the medium and not the
concentration. If a specific case is considered where the
unsterile broth was shown to contain 1011 viable organisms,
then the Del factor may be calculated, thus:
v = In (1011 /10-3)
v = In 1014
= 32.2.
Therefore, the overall Del factor required is 32.2. However,
the destruction of cells occurs during the heating and cooling
of the broth as well as during the period at 121°C, thus, the
overall Del factor may be represented as:
Voverall = Vheating + Vholding + Vcooling
Knowing the temperature-time profile for the heating and
cooling of the broth (prescribed by the characteristics of the
available equipment) it is possible to determine the
contribution made to the overall Del factor by these periods.
Thus, knowing the Del factors contributed by heating and
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cooling, the holding time may be calculated to give the
required overall Del factor.
• How do we do that?
The relationship between Del factor, the temperature and
time is
V = A. (. e-(E/RT).
However, during the heating and cooling periods the
temperature is not constant and, therefore, the calculation of
V would require the integration of equation (5.8) for the
time-temperature regime observed. Deindoerfer and
Humphrey (1959) produced integrated forms of the
equation for a variety of temperature-time profiles, including
linear, exponential and hyperbolic. However, the regime
observed in practice is frequently difficult to classify, making
the application of these complex equations problematic. The
time axis is divided into a number of equal increments,
t1,t2,t3, etc., Richards suggesting 30 as a reasonable number.
For each increment, the temperature corresponding to the
mid-point time is recorded. The total Del factor of heating
up period is equivalent to the um of Del factors of the mid-
point temperatures for each time increment. The value of
Del factor corresponding to each time increment may
calculate from the equations:
V1= k1t,
V2= k2t,
V3 = k3t, etc.
The sum of the Del factors for all the increments will then
equal the Del factor for the eating –up period. The Del factor
for the cooling-down period may in a similar fashion.
What are the different methods of batch
sterilization?
The batch sterilization of the medium for fermentation may be
achieved either in the fermentation vessel or in a separate mash
cooker. The major advantages of a separate medium
sterilization vessel may be summarized as:
1. One cooker may be used to serve several fermenters and the
medium may be sterilized as the fermenters are being
c1eaned and prepared for the next fermentation, thus saving
time between fermentations.
2. The medium may be sterilized in a cooker in a more
concentrated form than would be used in the fermentation
and then diluted in the fermenter with sterile water prior to
inoculation. This would allow the construction of smaller
cookers. For example, in the case of alcohol fermentation,
where dilute molasses is used as the substrate, the
concentrated molasses could be sterilized in the mash cooker
and it can be diluted with sterile water in the fermentation
vessel.
3. In some fermentation, the medium is at its most viscous
during sterilization and the power requirement for agitation
during sterilization is very high. If the sterilization is to be
carried out in the fermentation vessels themselves, the power
requirement would be much more. In such cases, it would be
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 economical if the sterilization is carried out in a smaller
kettle.
4. The fermenter would be secure from the corrosion which
may occur with the fermentation medium at high
temperature.
The major disadvantages of a separate medium sterilization
vessel may be summarized as:
1. The cost of constructing a batch medium sterilizer is much
the same as that for the fermenter.
2. If a cooker serves a large number of fermenters complex
pipe work would be necessary to transport the sterile
medium, with the inherent dangers of contamination.
3. Mechanical failure in a cooker supplying medium to several
fermenters would render all the Fermentors temporarily
redundant. The provision of contingency equipment may be
prohibitively costly.
• All right. Now tell me about continuous sterilization.
Batch sterilization wastes energy and can overcook the
medium. Batch sterilization uses steam or direct firing to
elevate the temperature, and then cooling water stops the
process and brings the material back toward room
temperature. Both the heat and the cooling water are spent
with no opportunity for energy recovery. Large volumes
should be passed continuously through heat exchangers for
energy economy with the hot, treated fluid heating the cold,
incoming feed.
The advantages offered by continuous sterilization include
very short heating up times, suitability for media containing
suspended solids, low capital costs, easy cleaning and low
maintenance and high steam utilization efficiency. The steam
requirements in case of continuous sterilization would be
more uniform throughout the duration of the sterilization.
The application of continuous sterilization would also
simplify process control and reduce the time required for
sterilization. . Shorter sterilization time means less thermal
degradation of medium
The disadvantages include the possibility of foaming and
the condensation of steam in the medium diluting it. The
application of continuous sterilization demands high steam
requirements in a shorter period of time than batch
sterilization. Since steam is actually dispersed in media, steam
must be clean to avoid contamination .these issues must be
addressed to in case of continuous sterilization.
One method of continuous sterilization injects steam into
the medium (no heat exchanger). The medium stays in a
loop for a predetermined holding time until the entire
medium is sterile.
Better heat economy comes from substituting heat
exchangers for direct steam injection. Instead of having a
cold water stream to cool the sterile media, the lower
temperature unsterile media stream absorbs heat from the
warm stream, cooling the sterile media.
A system for continuous sterilization has a holding coil for
detention long enough to kill all of the microorganisms.
The medium from a make up vessel flows through the
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exchanger, is held in the coil, and passes back through the
FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES
heat exchanger, heating more unsterile medium while
becoming cool itself, as it is collected in a sterile fermenter.
• What is a heat exchanger?
The name is self explanatory, isn’t it? A heat exchanger is an
instrument in which two fluids come in indirect contact with
each other exchanging their heat content. In other words,
one fluid loses heat and the other gains it. To further
simplify, one fluid gets heated and the other gets cooled.
• How does a heat exchanger work?
A heat exchanger utilizes the fact that heat transfer occurs
when there is a difference in temperature.
In a heat exchanger, there is a cold stream and a hot stream.
The two streams are separated by a thin, solid wall. The wall
must be thin and conductive in order for heat exchange to
occur. Yet the wall must be strong enough to withstand any
pressure by the fluid. Copper seems to be one of a common
choice for construction.
Here is a simple flow diagram showing how heat transfers in
a heat exchanger.
This flow arrangement is called co-current. If the direction of
one of the stream is reversed, the arrangement is called
counter-current flow.
Here are the temperature profiles along the heat exchanger. Note
that the temperature profiles are different for co-current flow
and for counter-current flow.
Air or water cooled radiators of a car is one of the commonest
examples of heat exchanger. Can you think of other common
examples of heat exchange? Feel free to use the space provided
below to express your thoughts.
• ·What does a heat exchanger looks like?
Depending on the structural assembly, there are many types
of heat exchanger. Shell and tube exchanger, plate heat
exchanger etc. are some of the common examples.
• What is a shell and tube type exchanger?
When the flow in a heat exchanger is countercurrent (i.e.
against each other), the outlet temperature of the stream
being heated can approach the temperature of the hot stream
to be cooled. Countercurrent heat exchanger provides more
effective heat transfer. Most of the industrial heat exchangers
are counter-current flow design.
There is an attempt to show this in the sketch. There are
gradients on the shell side as well.
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FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES

Shell and Tube Exchangers are common throughout the

chemical process industries for heat economy. Many tubes go
from a header on one side to a header on the other. The other
fluid is in the space outside the tubes. Hot streams exchange
energy with colder streams so that the thermal energy of the hot
streams is not wasted. Furthermore, companies are not allowed
to discharge hot streams that can damage the environment, so
removing heat from a waste hot stream is important.
The colors in this sketch are supposed to represent heat
gradients. Red is hottest, and yellow is coolest. Note that the
outlets cannot reach exactly the same temperature as the inlet of
the other stream except when there is infinite surface for heat
transfer. The sketch is a little misleading for the shell
temperatures because there should be a left to right gradient
when the inlet and outlet are at different ends.
The Shell and tube exchanger is not as well suited to
continuous sterilization as the plate-frame type of exchanger.
• ·What is a plate heat exchanger?
Plate Heat Exchangers utilize corrugated plates stacked
between a fixed and a movable pressure plate. The
corrugation patterns alternate for maximum operating
pressures. As virtually all of the material is used for heat
transfer, Plate Heat Exchangers can have large amounts of
effective heat transfer surface in a small footprint. It is not
uncommon that a Plate Heat Exchanger will have the same
thermal capacity as a Shell & Tube five times larger.
The following diagrams give an idea about the designing and • On what does the performance of a heat exchanger
working of plate heat exchangers. depend?
To maximize the performance of a heat exchanger means
saving money, especially if the process is built for a long-
term project. Here are some ways to improve the
performance of a heat exchanger:
1. heat transfer area
2. fluid flow velocity
3. temperature gradient
These suggested ways of improvements are based on the
equation for heat transfer rate of a heat exchanger, which is:
Q=U*A*dTlm

Where,
Q = Heat transfer rate between the fluids
U = Overall heat transfer coefficient

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A = Heat transfer area
dTlm = Log mean temperature difference of the system
• How does the heat transfer area affect the performance
of the heat exchanger?
I will give you an example. Imagine two towels of the same
size and same fabric. Both are dipped in water and allowed
to get wet thoroughly. Now both these towels hold the same
degree of moisture. One towel is fully spread over a stand
whereas the other one is folded into a ball. Which one of
them will dry first and why?
The heat transfer area (or contact area) is directly proportional
to the heat transfer rate. If the heat transfer area increases,
heat transfer rate increases as well. The towel which is well
spread has a larger surface area as compared to the one which
is folded into a ball and hence loses heat faster and
consequently dries faster.
A common way to increase heat transfer area is adding fins to
the surface. It is cheap to put fins to the heat transfer area but
fins also increase fouling, especially in bio-process.
• The speeds with which the fluids flow through the
exchanger also affect the rate of heat transfer, right?
Yes.
The importance of the fluid flow in a heat exchanger is that it
changes the overall heat transfer coefficient, U. The data
obtained from the heat transfer experiment shows that the
velocity of the cooling fluid is directly proportional to the
overall transfer coefficient. The following is a plot of 1/U vs. 1/
V0.8 during one of the runs during the lab experiment.
As the cooling fluid velocity increases, the cooling fluid is
able to dissipate heat more effectively. The data have shown
that it is the case.
Although increasing flow velocity can give more effective heat
transfer, it may not be a good idea in some bio-process.
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High velocity creates high shear stress in flow. Some
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proteins or cell structures are very delicate. They cannot
withhold such force and they will be destroyed. The whole
batch can be ruined.
• And the temperature gradient. What is it and how does it
affect the heat transfer efficiency?
Temperature gradient is certainly an important part of heat
transfer. It is the driving force for heat transfer. If we can
introduce fluids with greater temperature difference into the
heat exchanger, the heat transfer rate (Q) will be greater. If we
go back to the temperature profiles of the co-current and
counter flow, we can see that the driving force is great for co-
current at the beginning but decreases drastically as it moves
along the heat exchanger. The counter-current flow provides
relatively consistent driving force and therefore performs
better than co-current flow.
• OK. Now about the actual sterilization process using the
heat exchangers. How is it done?
Look at the diagram below. This clearly shows how the
fermentation broth is first heated in the heat exchanger and
then sterilized in the holding coils.
This design would work only with an exchanger with infinite
heat transfer area because there is no driving force for heat
transfer as the temperatures for the two streams approach
closely. A real design would have another small exchanger to
raise the temperature to the set point after the main exchanger
has done all it can do. There is no need for a cooler before
entering the fermenter because it has a jacket or coils for
temperature control that can easily handle this load.
Heat economy is not important for a small pilot plant unit for
continuous sterilization, so direct steam injection is simpler. A
heat exchanger is then needed with cooling water to bring the
medium back down quickly to a temperature at which it is not
over cooked.
High temperatures for short times are used in preparing
nutrient media for industrial fermentations and in pasteurizing
milk, because this causes less damage to biochemicals than more
prolonged times at lower temperatures. This exploits the
temperature effects on activation energies because bacterial
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 killing is affected by a temperature change more than is heat
FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES

destruction of biochemicals.
The main purpose of the heat exchanger in a bio-process is
sterilization.
There are other ways to kill unwanted organisms
(contaminants), such as using chemicals and filtration.
However, using heat energy seems to be the best way to sterilize
feed before entering to the reactor.
Exercise
1. Visit an industrial unit near your campus. Study the different
types of heat exchangers. Find out about the common
problems encountered in the operation of a heat exchanger.
2. Learn about the terms condenser and cooler. Find out how
they differ from heat exchanger.
3. Learn about the different metals used in the manufacturing
of heat exchangers. Find out more about heat transfer
efficiency, heat transfer rate, heat transfer coefficient and
theoretical calculation of heat transfer between two fluids.
Notes

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