INDUSTRIAL

MICROBIOLOGY
Lecture VII
SOME RAW MATERIALS
USED IN COMPOUNDING
INDUSTRIAL MEDIA

(A) CORN STEEP LIQUOR

This is a by-product of starch manufacture
from maize.

Sulfur dioxide is added to the water in which

maize is steeped. The lowered pH inhibits
most other organisms, but encourages the
development of naturally occurring lactic
acid bacteria especially homofermentative
thermophilic Lactobacillus spp. which raise
the temperature to 8-55C.

(A) CORN STEEP LIQUOR

Under these conditions, much of the protein

present in maize is converted to peptides
which along with sugars leach out of the
maize and provide nourishment for the
lactic acid bacteria.

(B) PHARMAMEDIA
Also known as proflo, this is a yellow fine
powder made from cotton-seed embryo.
It is used in the manufacture of tetracycline
and some semi-synthetic penicillins.

(B) PHARMAMEDIA
It is rich in protein, (56% w/v) and contains:

24% carbohydrate,
5% oil, and
4% ash, the last of which is rich in calcium,
iron, chloride, phosphorous, and sulfate.

(C) DISTILLERS SOLUBLES

This is a by-product of the distillation of alcohol from
fermented grain. It is prepared by away the solids from
the material left after distilling fermented cereals (maize
or barley) for whiskey or grain alcohol. The filtrate is then
concentrated to about one-third solid content to give a
syrup which is then drum-dried to give distillers soluble. It
is rich in nitrogen, minerals, and growth factors

The Distillers Grains with Soluble

(D) SOYA BEAN MEAL

Soya beans (soja) (Glycine max), is an annual
legume which is widely cultivated throughout the
world in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions
between 50N and 40S.

The seeds are heated before being extracted for oil

that is used for food, as an antifoam in industrial
fermentations, or used for the manufacture of
margarine.

The resulting dried material, soya bean meal, has

about 11% nitrogen, and 30% carbohydrate and

(D) SOYA BEAN MEAL

(E) MOLASSES
Molasses is a source of sugar, and is used in many
fermentation industries including the production of
potable and industrial alcohol, acetone, citric acid,
glycerol, and yeasts.

It is a by-product of the sugar industry.

There are two types of molasses depending on

whether the sugar is produced from the tropical crop,
sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) the temperate
crop, beet, (Beta alba).

(E) MOLASSES
Four stages are involved in the manufacture
of cane sugar.

1. After crushing, a clear greenish dilute

sugar solution known as mixed juice is
expressed from the canes.
2.During the second stage known as
clarification the mixed juice is heated with
lime.

(E) MOLASSES
Four stages are involved in the manufacture
of cane sugar.

1. After crushing, a clear greenish dilute

sugar solution known as mixed juice is
expressed from the canes.
2.During the second stage known as
clarification the mixed juice is heated with
lime. Addition of lime changes the pH of the
juice to alkaline and thus stops further
hydrolysis (or inversion) or the cane sugar

(E) MOLASSES
3. The supernatant juice is then
concentrated (in the third stage) by heating
under high vacuum and increasing low
pressures in a series of evaporators.

4. In the fourth and final stage of

crystallization, sugar crystals begin to form
with increasing heat and under vacuum,
yielding a thick brown syrup which contains
the crystals, and which is known as
massecuite.

(F) SULFITE LIQUOR

Sulfite liquor (also called
waste sulfite liquor, sulfite
waste liquor or spent
sulfite liquor) is the
aqueous effluent resulting
from the sulfite process for
manufacturing cellulose or
pulp from wood.

(F) SULFITE LIQUOR

Sulfite liquor is used as a
medium for the growth of
microorganisms after being
suitably neutralized with
CaCO3 and enriched with
ammonium salts or urea,
and other nutrients.

It has been used for the

manufacture of yeasts and
alcohol.

GROWTH FACTORS
Growth factors are materials which are not
synthesized by the organism and therefore
must be added to the medium.

They usually function as cofactors of enzymes

and may be vitamins, nucleotides etc.

The pure forms are usually too expensive for

use in industrial media and materials
containing the required growth factors are
used to compound the medium. Growth

GROWTH FACTORS

WATER
Water is a raw material of vital importance in
industrial microbiology, though this
importance is often overlooked.

It is required as a major component of the

fermentation medium, as well as for cooling,
and for washing and cleaning.

It is therefore used in rather large quantities,

and measured in thousands of liters a day
depending on the industry.

WATER
In order to ensure constancy of product quality
the water must be regularly analyzed for
minerals, color, pH, etc. and adjusted as may
be necessary.

Due to the importance of water, in situations

where municipal water supplies are likely to be
unreliable, industries set up their own
supplies.