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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STREAMLINING FERMENTATION- PROFIT OR EFFICIENCY?

(THE PICTURE TAKEN FROM WWW.SRC.SK.CA)



Economics is the single factor that dictate whether a particular industrial fermentation process is viable despite the fermentation process being technically viable. There is always the need to produce fermentation products at minimal costs so that the product will be cheaper on the market in the face of stiff competition from other producers

Various strategies are often taken to cut the production costs down such as:
1 Producing higher volume of the fermentation products using larger fermentors
2 Using cheaper source of fermentation raw materials
3 Cutting wastage of materials by using it efficiently
4 Making the fermentation process more efficient by using higher producing strains or better unit processes in the fermentation process

There are times however where the fermentation companies see a potential increase in demand for their fermentation products and decided that whether it is the best option to consider enlarging the capacity of their production by increasing the number and size of fermentors? This is a very risky decision to take as increasing the number and size of fermentors is a very huge investment in capital. Would it not be better if we can increase the efficiency of the existing fermentation process to its most achievable limit of optimization before deciding if an increase in production capacity is a viable option

While it is true that increasing the numbers and size of fermentors could increase the production capacity of the company, but if it is run at the same inefficiency as before there is going to be a high increase in the amount of potential wastes from operating costs to wasted fermentation media

The most important step therefore is to find ways of increasing the efficiency of the existing fermentation process and find at which step from the upstream activities to downstream activities where they are found to be rate limiting to the whole fermentation process. Proper analyses or studies must be carried out in terms time spent at each step.

TIME IS ESSENCE
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try shortening it at each unit until total efficiency objective is reached at each component step. This even include the CIP/COP times! Use a more efficient method of cleaning and more effective chemicals. This will allow a shorter turn around time for the fermentors to be reused again!

If every unit or steps in the fermentation process makes effort and improve their efficiency and time management then the overall fermentation process will be improved.
Meetings must be held regularly to see how the new fermentation run schedule could be further improved with the increase in efficiency and overall shortening of the time

Secondly, even the rate limiting steps are identified and adjusted, it might create different bottlenecks down stream to the rate limiting steps. Fermentation process is a dynamic process whereby any step changed upstream will affect the various downstream steps. There will also need to be changes to be carried out upstream to accommodate the different flow rate to the primary recovery step

ANALYSES OF THE RATE LIMITING STEP
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We can picture the industrial fermentation process involving the four main stages:


PRECULTURE --> FERMENTATION-->PRIMARY RECOVERY -->DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING

It is very obvious from the above flow chart that the most rate limiting step is the primary recovery step. Any change in the primary recovery step positively will also mean changes both upstream and down stream to the primary recovery step. Adjustments in both directions have to be made

FACILITATING THE FLOW
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In any industrial fermentation process could be seen as a series of events occurring or passing through a series of unit processes which end up as the 'packaged product' at the end. A good fermentation production floor is no better than a kitchen at home. A well designed kitchen equipped with the proper equipments and tools at the right place properly positioned will help improve the fermentation cooking process

The flow of the fermentation process must be maintained efficiently with no hold up and proper equipments in placed

Side activities that enter into the flow such as media preparation, sampling and analysis must enter the flow at the right time and place Read more!