Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026

06:08
Design of Solid-State Fermentation Systems for Polymer Hydrolytic Extracellular Enzyme Production by Filamentous Fungi
Published on: June 6, 2025
Use of surface-immobilized Trichoderma in batch and fed-batch fermentations
1Division of Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, K1A 0R6.
Biotechnology and Bioengineering
|March 1, 1988
Summary
Immobilizing Trichoderma reesei on needle-punch polyester provides a stable, resident inoculum. This method reduces biomass in liquid cultures while maintaining significant enzyme activity for industrial applications.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Industrial Microbiology
- Enzyme Technology
Background:
- Trichoderma reesei Rut C30 is a key microorganism for industrial enzyme production.
- Immobilization techniques are crucial for enhancing microbial stability and reusability in bioprocesses.
- Reducing biomass in fermentation broths is desirable for downstream processing efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate needle-punch polyester as a support for immobilizing Trichoderma reesei Rut C30.
- To compare the performance of immobilized Trichoderma in batch and fed-batch cultures against free mycelium.
- To assess the impact of immobilization on biomass generation and enzyme activity.
Main Methods:
- Immobilization of Trichoderma reesei Rut C30 on needle-punch polyester.
- Cultivation in batch and fed-batch fermentation systems.
- Comparison of biomass concentration and enzyme activity between immobilized and free cell cultures.
Main Results:
- Needle-punch polyester effectively immobilized Trichoderma reesei Rut C30.
- Immobilized cultures exhibited greater stability and reduced biomass generation in the liquid phase.
- Fed-batch fermentation with immobilized cells achieved approximately 80% of the activity of free cells, with enhanced stability and lower biomass concentration in the enzyme broth.
Conclusions:
- Needle-punch polyester is a suitable and effective support for Trichoderma reesei immobilization.
- Immobilization offers significant advantages in terms of culture stability and reduced biomass contamination.
- This approach holds promise for more efficient and stable industrial enzyme production.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Batch vs Continuous Culture
Fermentation is a foundational biotechnological process used to produce pharmaceuticals, biofuels, enzymes, and food additives. Among industrial strategies, batch and continuous fermentation are the two most widely applied. Although both rely on microbial conversion of substrates into desired products, they differ markedly in operation, productivity, and suitability for specific applications.Batch fermentation occurs in a closed system in which nutrient media and inoculum are added at the...
Fed-Batch Culture
Fed-batch culture is a widely used bioprocessing strategy combining aspects of batch culture with controlled substrate feeding to optimize cell growth and product formation. In this semi-closed system, nutrients are strategically added during fermentation, while the accumulated products and biomass remain within the bioreactor until the end of the operation. This controlled addition of substrates allows for better management of growth kinetics, nutrient limitation, and metabolite...
Production of Alcohol
Continuous fermentation is a key strategy in industrial ethanol production, particularly when efficiency, scalability, and high yields are essential. This approach allows for uninterrupted operation and optimized resource utilization. The primary feedstock, corn starch, undergoes enzymatic hydrolysis facilitated by α-amylase and glucoamylase. These enzymes break down the starch into fermentable sugars such as glucose, which are readily assimilated by fermentative microorganisms.Fermentation...
Bioreactor Controls-II
In aerobic fermentations, oxygen is vital for microbial growth and metabolite production. Since air comprises only about 20% oxygen and the gas is poorly soluble in water—just 9 ppm at 20°C—supplying sufficient oxygen becomes a critical challenge, especially in high-demand processes like yeast growth or citric acid production. Even a fully saturated broth may offer only a few seconds of oxygen availability.To address this, sterile or scrubbed air is introduced into the fermentor via a sparger...
Scale-Up Processes
The scale-up of microbial fermentation processes is essential in industrial biotechnology, allowing the transition from laboratory-scale experiments to commercial-scale production while aiming to maintain product yield and quality. This process requires meticulous adjustment of equipment design, process parameters, and contamination control strategies to accommodate increasing culture volumes.At the laboratory scale, cultures are typically maintained in 1 to 10-liter glass or autoclavable...
Bioreactor Design and Operational System
Bioreactors are engineered vessels designed to cultivate microorganisms under controlled conditions for industrial bioprocessing. They maintain sterility and allow precise regulation of pH, temperature, oxygen, and nutrient levels to optimize microbial growth and metabolite production. Bioreactors range from small laboratory units of 1 liter to industrial systems holding up to 500,000 liters, though only about 75% of their volume is actively used for fermentation. The remaining headspace...

