STREAMLINING FERMENTATION

The fermentation industry is not only labour but also energy intensive industries. Some of its products are facing intensive competition not only from the chemical industries producing the same products. In the case of certain fermentation products that could not be manufactured chemically this would not be a threat. The other threat is the competition from countries like China and India which could produce the same products but much cheaper

In order to survive any fermentation industries must be competitive enough to be able to produce fermentation products at a competitive price. One of the available methods to cut the cost of production thus lowering the final price of the products on the market is to be more efficient in its production. This would involve streamlining the fermentation industries in terms of improving efficiency of production, using less energy or using energy more efficiently

Streamlining could be referred as the improvement of an overall process, and the individual steps of the process, with a goal of meeting or exceeding client needs and expectations. The exercise of streamlining could itself be applied in many activities such as business, motorcar production, office management as well as fermentation industries

Stream lining is a rational exercise, whereby the whole fermentation process right from upstream to downstream is identified. The various steps involved are studied for room for improvement and whether they are run under optimal conditions. The success will be reflected in the end results that are expected. The company has shown much improvised financial performance in the last two years as a result of the financial as well as administrational restructuring that has been initiated during the period.

The fermentation industry is a dynamic entity that follows the sequence of events right up from upstream to downstream. It is often considered a one way flow. Any changes upstream in the streamlining process will affect the efficiency of the downstream unit processes. Care has to be taken to see that once streamlining process has been effectively carried out by not causing changes in operating regimes or even microbial contamination as the whole streamlining activity will be thrown out of gear. In the streamlining of the fermentation industries it is often a challenge to maintain this sensitive and optimal window of operations as the process is sensitive and fine tuned

IMPORTANT STEPS IN STREAM LINING

1 LOGISTICAL ARRANGEMENT OF UNIT OPERATIONS FOR SMOOTH TRANSFER SPATIALLY AND TEMPORALLY

The arrangement of the unit operations must be in logical sequence of the flow and must be within proximity of each other to allow smoother transfer between one process and another

2 SMOOTH VOLUMETRIC FLOWS FROM START TO END TO AVOID BOTTLENECKS

During the fermentation process there must smooth flow of materials being transformed right up from upstream, mid stream to downstream. The volumetric flows, materials and even man power must be considered

3 PROPER UNIT OPERATIONS ARE OPERATING EFFICIENTLY
The proper unit operations of the right capacity and specifications must be used. The equipments must be efficient and in good order and functioning properly. In certain situations there must be stand by units in case of emergency failures

4 FERMENTATION FLOW IS CLOSELY MONITORED BY SENSORS AND UNDER FULL CONTROL OF FEED BACK LOOPS

In this age of automation, sensors, computers and feedback loops will give us the immediate status of the process temporally as well spatially. This computer displays allow us to look graphically at the process and detect where likely trouble spots will occur or any build up of problems in the process



5 NEED OF SOPs
The use of SOPS will allow consistency of process, materials and products and avoid sudden problems occurring

6 NO ROOM FOR CHANGES
If in the application of streamlining is carried out, any sudden changes may affect the streamlining. Therefore it is important no sudden changes are carried out suddenly. In fermentation using non homogenous substrate composition this can be a challenge!





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