Industrial Fermentation - Pharmaceuticals and The Biotechnology Industry

Pharmaceuticals and The Biotechnology Industry

There are 5 major groups of commercially important fermentation:

1. Microbial cells or biomass as the product, e.g. single cell protein, bakers yeast, lactobacillus, E. coli, etc.
2. Microbial enzymes: catalase, amylase, protease, pectinase, glucose isomerase, cellulase, hemicellulase, lipase, lactase, streptokinase, etc.
3. Microbial metabolites :
   1. Primary metabolites – ethanol, citric acid, glutamic acid, lysine, vitamins, polysaccharides etc.
   2. Secondary metabolites: all antibiotic fermentation
4. Recombinant products: insulin, hepatitis B vaccine, interferon, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, streptokinase
5. Biotransformations: phenylacetylcarbinol, steroid biotransformation, etc.