4. What is fermentation engineering and what is the basic principle of fermentation?

Refers to the use of modern engineering technology, using some specific functions of microorganisms to produce products useful to human beings, or directly applying microorganisms to industrial production processes. The contents of fermentation engineering include strain selection, medium preparation, sterilization, expanded culture and inoculation, fermentation process and product separation and purification.

Fermentation principle

function

(1) Fermentation engineering is a discipline to solve the engineering problems of industrial production according to fermentation technology. Fermentation engineering from the engineering point of view, the fermentation industrial process of realizing fermentation technology is divided into three stages: strain, fermentation and refining (including wastewater treatment). These three stages have their own engineering problems, which are generally called upstream, midstream and downstream projects of fermentation engineering respectively. The three stages of fermentation engineering have their own process principle, equipment and process control principle, which together constitute the fermentation engineering principle.

(2) The practice of fermentation industry for thousands of years, especially in recent decades, has proved that microorganisms are the soul of fermentation engineering. In recent years, the understanding of the biological characteristics of fermentation engineering has become increasingly clear, and fermentation engineering is approaching science.

(3) Re-examine the fermentation engineering from the perspective of biological science, and find that the most basic principle of fermentation engineering is its biological principle, and all the above fermentation engineering principles must be based on the biological principle of fermentation engineering. Therefore, the biological principle of fermentation engineering is the most basic principle of fermentation engineering, which can be called "fermentation principle" for short.

other

(4) The core content of fermentation principle is the natural law of complex microbial system (that is, three basic assumptions of microbial life activities). The hypothesis of metabolic energy support (the premise and motivation of life activities) implies that microbial living cells are dissipative structures and supported by metabolic energy. This hypothesis embodies the spatiality (orderly orientation) and temporality (orderly periodic change) of life activities. The hypothesis of metabolic network (the content and structure of life activities) shows that metabolic network is the running diagram of cell metabolic activities. This hypothesis embodies the integrity, fluidity and hierarchy of life activities. The hypothesis of cell economy (the law and control of life activities) reveals the operating principle of cell economy and embodies the autonomy of cell metabolic activities.