THE PROBLEMS OF CLEANING INDUSTRIAL FERMENTATION SYSTEMS

One of the significant steps to prevent microbial contaminations in industrial fermentation systems is keeping the fermentation systems clean not only from the presence of residues of fermentation but from the presence of unwanted microorganisms.
Effective sterilizations could only be achieved by first cleaning the fermentation systems. Proper cleaning of the fermentation systems require in depth study and understanding the structure and behavior of the properties of the foulings
Only by understanding these prerequisites can you develop cleaning regimes which are specific to the process in mind. This will not only give you effective sterilizations but even save you money in terms of chemicals used in cleaning, lower labour costs and less downtime. It will also give you assurance that your fermentation processes will be free from contaminations
Cleaning the fermentation systems is not as easy as it looks. There are dirts and particles which you cannot see with your naked eyes. Seeing it is ‘clean’ does not always mean its really clean.
The problems faced in cleaning the fermentation systems are:
1 How to detect the biofoulings
2 Methods to detect presence of microbes or its by products on surfaces
3 Looking for inaccessible places where its difficult to remove them
4 Using the right cleaning technology
5 Validating that the cleaning process have been really carried out
In the fermentation industries we are dealing the problems of cleaning at the level of microscopic or nano level. Surfaces exposed to dirt and contaminants occur microscopic level. What appears as a smooth shiny surface could under microscopic observation be rough and craggy giving protection and attachment to the microbes. It is not easy to remove such hidden microbes in the conventional way
Mot of the biofoulings are biofilms which have thick exopolysaccharide to protect the cells. Thus using chemicals does not always guarantee the removal of the cells
Sometimes you need special tools to observe the fouling such as using lights of different wavelength that can detect proteins and other metabolites
The use of wrong biocide regime could instead of removing the biofilm cause it to produce thick biofilms. This is contrary to the purpose
Proper research need to be done at laboratory level to determine the right cleaning regime before the method is applied



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