fermentation and optimization principles

Abstract- Educating students about industrial biotechnology processes is resource and time intensive when practical experiments are used to convey knowledge and build skills. Fermentation, the common biotechnology process, involves growing microorganisms in a stirred tank to mass-produce a protein, enzyme or chemical compound from a substrate. Fermentations typically run over several days or weeks, after which the product is purified through a series of expensive downstream processing steps. The long time involved makes it very difficult for students to gain experience in fermentation principles and process optimization. We report a trial evaluating third year biotechnology student learning using “FermOpt”, a simulation of an industrial fermentation. Student understanding of fermentation was ascertained using pre-test and post-test questionnaires and their perceptions of FermOpt obtained through a survey. Index Terms – Biotechnology, fermentation, simulation