FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES

LESSON 10:
STERILIZATION

Learning Objectives Sterilization of the culture Media

In this lecture, you will learn Nutrient media as initially prepared contain a variety of different
• Sterilization of culture media vegetative cells and spores, derived from the constituents of the
culture medium, the water and the vessel. These must be
• Kinetics of sterilization
eliminated by a suitable means before inoculation. A number
• Heat exchanger designs of means are available for sterilization, but in practice heat is the
Introduction most often used mechanism.
Hello students, now that we have seen about the fermentation A number of factors influence the success of heat sterilization:
medium, let’s see about another important aspect of the the number and type of microorganisms present, the
fermentation process viz. the sterilization. It would not be composition of the culture medium, the pH value, and the size
difficult to imagine the reasons behind the need to sterilize the of the suspended particles. Vegetative cells are rapidly eliminated
fermentation medium, equipments and the air used for at relatively low temperatures such as 600C for 5-10 minutes, but
sparging. During the course of fermentation, we are interested for destruction of spores, temperatures of 1210C are needed
in the growth of the desired organism only and hence, as far as during 15 minutes.
possible, all contaminants should be kept at bay. This may not During heat sterilization there is always the possibility of
be always possible and indeed, some fermentations are found destroying ingredients in the medium. Apart from the
to be contaminated especially during the later stages. In some degradation of heat-labile components, also contributes to the
fermentations, the cost of sterilization becomes prohibitive loss of nutrient quality during sterilization. A common
especially if the final selling price of the product is low. But in phenomenon is the occurrence of the Maillard-type browing
virtually all fermentation processes, it is mandatory to have reactions, which cause discoloration of the medium as well as
contamination free seed cultures at all stages, from the loss of nutrient quality. These reactions are normally caused by
preliminary culture to the fermentor. carbonyl groups, usually from reducing sugars, interacting with
What will happen if the fermentation is carried out under non amino groups from amino acids and proteins. Separate
sterile conditions? sterilization of the carbohydrate component of the medium
1. Loss of productivity because of contaminant growth may be necessary to prevent such reactions.
overtaking that of the desired organism. • What’s the alternative then, to heat sterilization?
2. Total displacement of the desired organism by contaminants Filter sterilization is often used for all components of
especially in continuous fermentations. nutrient solutions, which are heat sensitive. Sugars, vitamins,
3. Contamination of the final product/s by the contaminating antibiotics or blood components are examples of heat-labile
organisms especially when the final product is cell mass. ( e.g. components which must be sterilized by filtration.
SCP ) Most nutrient media are presently sterilized in batch volumes
4. Interference in the final recovery process due to in the bioreactor at 1210C. Approximate sterilization times
contamination can be calculated from the nature of the medium and the
size of the fermentor. Not only the nutrient media, but also
5. Contamination of an antagonistic / pathogenic organism the fitting, valves and electrodes of the fermentor itself must
could result into rapid death of the host organism bringing be sterilized. Therefor, actual sterilization times are
the fermentation to a complete halt. significantly longer than calculated ones and must be
• All right. Now, what are the major considerations to be empirically determined for the specific nutrient solutions in
made during the sterilization operations? the fermentor. Smaller fermentors are sterilized in an
Ideally, all the inputs required for the fermentation should autoclave while larger fermentors are sterilized by indirect or
retain a state of absolute sterility all the time. First, there is direct steam injection.
the fermentor vessel to be sterilized. Fermentors can be • ·Ok. That was about the sterilization of media. How do
sterilized either by destroying the viable microorganisms by a we then sterilize the air that is used for the
physical procedure such as filtration. Then we have to fermentations?
sterilize the culture media and the incoming and outgoing Most fermentations are operated under high aeration and the
air. Additionally, attention has to be paid to the appropriate air supplied to the fermentor must be sterilized. The
construction of the bioreactor for sterilization and for number of particles and microorganisms in air varies greatly
prevention of contamination during fermentation. We will depending on the location, air movement, and previous
now see these operations in details. 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- There have been some attempts to commercialize enzymatic
FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES

negative bacteria. sterilization of air. The basic concept is to bring

Fermentors generally work with aeration rates of 0.5-2 vvm microorganisms and viruses into contact with enzymes that
(air volume/liquid volume per minute). The methods attack nucleic acids. Viruses are destroyed by passage through
available for sterilizing gases include filtration, gas injection a web of surfaces coated with deoxyribonuclease enzymes.
(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 • You mentioned about the design of the fermentor
sterilization to obtain excellent performance with units of affecting the process of sterilization. How?
relatively small size. The fermentor design should not encourage contamination
Moisture is bad for all methods of air sterilization and may at any stage. There should be a minimum number of
help microorganisms to pass. A membrane pore size of 0.2 openings in the fermentor to favor maintenance sterility.
to 0.3 micrometers is recommended. Hydrophilic Small openings must be made leak proof with O-rings,
membranes should not be used because moisture held larger openings with flat gaskets. Whenever a movable shaft
tightly in the pores is not dislodged unless there is quite penetrates the fermentor wall, special problems of sterility
high-pressure drop across the membrane. Moisture tends to maintenance should be solved. The material of construction
drain from hydrophobic membranes and collect in a sump. of the fermentor should permit easy and repeated
The units are modular and housed in a shell with a sterilization. The fermentor vessel should have minimum
manifold. Sizing is based on the number of cartridges dead and inaccessible areas.
needed. • ·Understood. Now how do we carry out the sterilization
• Can we use filters for the air that is going out of the operation as such?
fermentors? Remember,
As a rule, the air going out of all fermentations should be a) For all sterilization calculations, we are considering the total
free of living organisms, microbial products or spores. no. of organisms present in the volume of the medium to
Because of all the problems mentioned above, filtration is be sterilized, not the concentration
not a reliable method for the control of organisms in the air b) The minimum number of organisms needed to
that is leaving the fermentor. contaminate a batch is one, regardless of the volume of the
Air leaving a vessel in which pathogenic organisms are batch.
cultured is sterilized by heating. Air in a room for culturing c) Any system is either sterile or non sterile. Nothing like partial
microorganisms may be exposed to ultraviolet light to sterility exists.
reduce the number of potential contaminants. Ultraviolet
The destruction of micro-organisms by steam (moist heat) may
light penetrates poorly through glass, so organisms in shake
be described as a first-order chemical reaction and, thus, may be
flasks are not killed. It is also necessary to regularly replace the
represented by the following equation:
ultraviolet source if its continued efficacy is desired. Usually,
a single light switch turns on white light before a person -dN/dt = kN (1)
enters, and the Ultraviolet goes on when the person flips the Where;
switch on leaving. N t is the number of viable organisms present,
There are also ultraviolet lights mounted in flow devices for t is the time of the sterilization treatment,
water sterilization, but quartz bulbs or enclosures are needed k is the reaction rate constant of the reaction, or the specific
to get out of the altering of Ultraviolet wavelengths. Such death rate.
devices are also plagued by turbidity in the water and by dirt
forming on the transparent surfaces.

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On integration of equation (1) the following expression is equations (3) and (5), the following expression may be derived

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obtained: for the he at sterilization of a pure culture at a constant
Nt/No = e –kt (2) temperature:
Where; In N0/Nt = A.t.e –E/RT (7)

No is the number of viable organism present at the start of Deindoerfer and Humphrey used the term In No/lV, as a
the sterilization design criterion for sterilization, which has been variously called
the Del factor, Nabla factor and sterilization criterion
Treatment,
represented by the term V. Thus, the Del factor is a measure of
Nt is the number of viable organisms present after a treatment the fractional reduction in viable organism count produced by a
period t, certain he at and time regime. Therefore:
On taking natural logarithms, equation (2) is reduced to: V=In ( N0/Nt )
In( Nt/No) = -kt (3) But, In( N0/Nt ) = kt
It is be seen that viable organism number declines And kt = A.t.e –(E/RT)
exponentially over the treatment period. A plot of the natural
Thus v=A.t.e–(E/RT) (8)
logarithm of Nt/No against time yields a straight line, the slop
of which equals –k. This kinetics description makes two On rearranging, equation (8) becomes,
predictions which appear anomalous: In t = E/RT + IN (V/A) (9)
1. An infinite time is required to achieve sterile conditions (i.e. Thus, a plot of the natural logarithm of the time required to
Nt =0) achieve a certain V value against the reciprocal of the absolute
2. After a certain time there will be less than one viable cell temperature will yield a straight line, the slope of which is
present. dependent on the activation energy. It is clear that the same
degree of sterilization (V) may be obtained over a wide range of
Thus, in this context, a value of Nt is less than one is
time and temperature regimes; that is, the same degree of
considered in terms of the probability of an organism
sterilization may result from treatment at a high temperature for
surviving the treatment. For example, if it were predicted that a
a short time as from a low temperature for a long time.
particular treatment period reduced the population to 0.1 of a
viable organism, this implies that the probability of one • These calculations would work fine for a heat stable
organism surviving the treatment is one in ten. This may be medium wherein no degradation or interaction will take
better expressed in practical terms as a risk of one batch in ten place between the media ingredients. But what about
becoming contaminated by one organism. natural or crude media?
As with any first-order reaction, the reaction rate increases with This is a very valid point. When we are using a crude
increase in temperature due to an increase in the reaction rate medium, for example, molasses, the thermal degradation of
constant, which, in the case of the destruction of its various components becomes extremely significant.
microorganisms, is the specific death rate (k). Thus, k is a true, Sugars, especially are prone to quick thermal degradation.
constant only under constant temperature conditions. The Extended sterilization periods often drastically reduce the
relationship between temperature and the reaction rate constant nutritive value of crude fermentation media, mainly due the
was demonstrated by Arrhenius and may be represented by the thermal degradation of sugars. Interestingly, when the same
equation: medium is autoclaved only briefly, its nutritive value is found
to increase.
d Ink/dT =E/RT2 (4)
• Why should this happen?
where
This is because of a ‘cooking effect’ that makes more
E is the activation energy,
nutrients from the crude media available after they are briefly
R is the gas constant, exposed to heat and pressure. Take the example of
T is the absolute temperature. saccarification of starch. When heated under pressure, starch
On integration equation (4) gives: is hydrolysed to oligosaccharides and sugars, thereby
improving its degradability. Subsequent heating, however,
K= Ae –E/RT (5)
results in browning and charring of starch thereby making it
Where less degradable and less nutritive. The reactions between the
A is the Arrhenius constant. carbonyl groups from the reducing sugars and the amino
On taking natural logarithms, equation (5) becomes: groups from amino acids and proteins also result in
reduction of nutritive value of the media. Certain amino
In k = In A - E/RT. (6)
acids, vitamins and proteins will also suffer from thermal
From equation (6) it may be seen that a plot of In k against the degradation thereby making the medium less nutritive.
reciprocal of the absolute temperature will give a straight line. These problems can be generally solved by separately
Such a plot is termed an Arrhenius plot and enables the sterilizing the heat sensitive ingredients using gentler
calculation of the activation energy and the prediction of the methods of sterilization like filtration.
reaction rate for any temperature. By combining together

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 Depending on the type of fermentation, there are two cooling, the holding time may be calculated to give the
FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES

different types of sterilizations. required overall Del factor.

• What are those? • How do we do that?
See, the two basic types of fermentations from the The relationship between Del factor, the temperature and
operational point of view are batch and continuous time is
fermentation. Accordingly, sterilization can also be classified V = A. (. e-(E/RT).
into batch type and continuous sterilization.
However, during the heating and cooling periods the
First let’s see about batch sterilization. temperature is not constant and, therefore, the calculation of
A1though a batch sterilization process is less successful in V would require the integration of equation (5.8) for the
avoiding the destruction of nutrients than a continuous one, time-temperature regime observed. Deindoerfer and
the objective in designing a batch process is still to achieve Humphrey (1959) produced integrated forms of the
the required probability of obtaining sterility with the equation for a variety of temperature-time profiles, including
minimum loss of nutritive quality. ‘The highest temperature linear, exponential and hyperbolic. However, the regime
which appears to be feasible for batch sterilization is 121°C observed in practice is frequently difficult to classify, making
so the procedure should be designed such that exposure of the application of these complex equations problematic. The
the medium to this temperature is kept to a minimum. This time axis is divided into a number of equal increments,
is achieved by taking into account the contribution made to t1,t2,t3, etc., Richards suggesting 30 as a reasonable number.
the sterilization by the heating and cooling periods of the For each increment, the temperature corresponding to the
batch treatment. mid-point time is recorded. The total Del factor of heating
• What do we need to know when we are designing a batch up period is equivalent to the um of Del factors of the mid-
sterilization process? point temperatures for each time increment. The value of
(i) A profile of the increase and decrease in the temperature of Del factor corresponding to each time increment may
the fermentation medium during the heating and cooling calculate from the equations:
periods of the sterilization cycle. V1= k1t,
(ii) The numbers of microorganisms originally present in the V2= k2t,
medium. V3 = k3t, etc.
(iii) The thermal death characteristics of the ‘design’ organism. The sum of the Del factors for all the increments will then
As explained earlier this may be Bacillus stearothermophilus or equal the Del factor for the eating –up period. The Del factor
an alternative organism relevant to the particular for the cooling-down period may in a similar fashion.
fermentation.
What are the different methods of batch
Knowing the original number of organisms present in the
fermenter and the risk of contamination considered sterilization?
acceptable, the required Del factor may be calculated. A The batch sterilization of the medium for fermentation may be
frequently adopted risk of contamination is 1 in 1000, which achieved either in the fermentation vessel or in a separate mash
indicates that Nt should equal 10-3 of a viable cell. It is worth cooker. The major advantages of a separate medium
reinforcing at this stage that we are considering the total sterilization vessel may be summarized as:
number of organisms present in the medium and not the 1. One cooker may be used to serve several fermenters and the
concentration. If a specific case is considered where the medium may be sterilized as the fermenters are being
unsterile broth was shown to contain 1011 viable organisms, c1eaned and prepared for the next fermentation, thus saving
then the Del factor may be calculated, thus: time between fermentations.
v = In (1011 /10-3) 2. The medium may be sterilized in a cooker in a more
v = In 1014 concentrated form than would be used in the fermentation
= 32.2. and then diluted in the fermenter with sterile water prior to
Therefore, the overall Del factor required is 32.2. However, inoculation. This would allow the construction of smaller
the destruction of cells occurs during the heating and cooling cookers. For example, in the case of alcohol fermentation,
of the broth as well as during the period at 121°C, thus, the where dilute molasses is used as the substrate, the
overall Del factor may be represented as: concentrated molasses could be sterilized in the mash cooker
and it can be diluted with sterile water in the fermentation
Voverall = Vheating + Vholding + Vcooling vessel.
Knowing the temperature-time profile for the heating and 3. In some fermentation, the medium is at its most viscous
cooling of the broth (prescribed by the characteristics of the during sterilization and the power requirement for agitation
available equipment) it is possible to determine the during sterilization is very high. If the sterilization is to be
contribution made to the overall Del factor by these periods. carried out in the fermentation vessels themselves, the power
Thus, knowing the Del factors contributed by heating and 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 exchanger, is held in the coil, and passes back through the

FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES
kettle. heat exchanger, heating more unsterile medium while
4. The fermenter would be secure from the corrosion which becoming cool itself, as it is collected in a sterile fermenter.
may occur with the fermentation medium at high • What is a heat exchanger?
temperature. The name is self explanatory, isn’t it? A heat exchanger is an
The major disadvantages of a separate medium sterilization instrument in which two fluids come in indirect contact with
vessel may be summarized as: each other exchanging their heat content. In other words,
1. The cost of constructing a batch medium sterilizer is much one fluid loses heat and the other gains it. To further
the same as that for the fermenter. simplify, one fluid gets heated and the other gets cooled.
2. If a cooker serves a large number of fermenters complex • How does a heat exchanger work?
pipe work would be necessary to transport the sterile A heat exchanger utilizes the fact that heat transfer occurs
medium, with the inherent dangers of contamination. when there is a difference in temperature.
3. Mechanical failure in a cooker supplying medium to several In a heat exchanger, there is a cold stream and a hot stream.
fermenters would render all the Fermentors temporarily The two streams are separated by a thin, solid wall. The wall
redundant. The provision of contingency equipment may be must be thin and conductive in order for heat exchange to
prohibitively costly. occur. Yet the wall must be strong enough to withstand any
• All right. Now tell me about continuous sterilization. pressure by the fluid. Copper seems to be one of a common
choice for construction.
Batch sterilization wastes energy and can overcook the
medium. Batch sterilization uses steam or direct firing to Here is a simple flow diagram showing how heat transfers in
elevate the temperature, and then cooling water stops the a heat exchanger.
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 This flow arrangement is called co-current. If the direction of
suspended solids, low capital costs, easy cleaning and low one of the stream is reversed, the arrangement is called
maintenance and high steam utilization efficiency. The steam counter-current flow.
requirements in case of continuous sterilization would be
Here are the temperature profiles along the heat exchanger. Note
more uniform throughout the duration of the sterilization.
that the temperature profiles are different for co-current flow
The application of continuous sterilization would also
and for counter-current flow.
simplify process control and reduce the time required for
sterilization. . Shorter sterilization time means less thermal Air or water cooled radiators of a car is one of the commonest
degradation of medium examples of heat exchanger. Can you think of other common
examples of heat exchange? Feel free to use the space provided
The disadvantages include the possibility of foaming and
below to express your thoughts.
the condensation of steam in the medium diluting it. The
application of continuous sterilization demands high steam • ·What does a heat exchanger looks like?
requirements in a shorter period of time than batch Depending on the structural assembly, there are many types
sterilization. Since steam is actually dispersed in media, steam of heat exchanger. Shell and tube exchanger, plate heat
must be clean to avoid contamination .these issues must be exchanger etc. are some of the common examples.
addressed to in case of continuous sterilization. • What is a shell and tube type exchanger?
One method of continuous sterilization injects steam into When the flow in a heat exchanger is countercurrent (i.e.
the medium (no heat exchanger). The medium stays in a against each other), the outlet temperature of the stream
loop for a predetermined holding time until the entire being heated can approach the temperature of the hot stream
medium is sterile. to be cooled. Countercurrent heat exchanger provides more
Better heat economy comes from substituting heat effective heat transfer. Most of the industrial heat exchangers
exchangers for direct steam injection. Instead of having a are counter-current flow design.
cold water stream to cool the sterile media, the lower There is an attempt to show this in the sketch. There are
temperature unsterile media stream absorbs heat from the gradients on the shell side as well.
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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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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 High velocity creates high shear stress in flow. Some

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A = Heat transfer area
dTlm = Log mean temperature difference of the system proteins or cell structures are very delicate. They cannot
• How does the heat transfer area affect the performance withhold such force and they will be destroyed. The whole
of the heat exchanger? batch can be ruined.
I will give you an example. Imagine two towels of the same • And the temperature gradient. What is it and how does it
size and same fabric. Both are dipped in water and allowed affect the heat transfer efficiency?
to get wet thoroughly. Now both these towels hold the same Temperature gradient is certainly an important part of heat
degree of moisture. One towel is fully spread over a stand transfer. It is the driving force for heat transfer. If we can
whereas the other one is folded into a ball. Which one of introduce fluids with greater temperature difference into the
them will dry first and why? heat exchanger, the heat transfer rate (Q) will be greater. If we
The heat transfer area (or contact area) is directly proportional go back to the temperature profiles of the co-current and
to the heat transfer rate. If the heat transfer area increases, counter flow, we can see that the driving force is great for co-
heat transfer rate increases as well. The towel which is well current at the beginning but decreases drastically as it moves
spread has a larger surface area as compared to the one which along the heat exchanger. The counter-current flow provides
is folded into a ball and hence loses heat faster and relatively consistent driving force and therefore performs
consequently dries faster. better than co-current flow.
A common way to increase heat transfer area is adding fins to • OK. Now about the actual sterilization process using the
the surface. It is cheap to put fins to the heat transfer area but heat exchangers. How is it done?
fins also increase fouling, especially in bio-process. Look at the diagram below. This clearly shows how the
• The speeds with which the fluids flow through the fermentation broth is first heated in the heat exchanger and
exchanger also affect the rate of heat transfer, right? then sterilized in the holding coils.
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.

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.
As the cooling fluid velocity increases, the cooling fluid is
High temperatures for short times are used in preparing
able to dissipate heat more effectively. The data have shown
nutrient media for industrial fermentations and in pasteurizing
that it is the case.
milk, because this causes less damage to biochemicals than more
Although increasing flow velocity can give more effective heat prolonged times at lower temperatures. This exploits the
transfer, it may not be a good idea in some bio-process. temperature effects on activation energies because bacterial

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 killing is affected by a temperature change more than is heat
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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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