Bioprocessing requirements to manufacture a specific product - Essay Example

In lactic acid fermentation, a single molecule of pyruvate is changed into lactate. In the same process, ethanol and carbon dioxide are also resulting products. This kind of fermentation occurs in muscles of animals when the energy requirement exceeds the oxygen supply. This anaerobic process occurs, providing the organism with the energy required, in an anaerobic manner. Before this process can occur, though, a molecule of glucose has to be split into two molecules of pyruvate. This is a process referred to as glycolysis.

In homolactic fermentation, two moles of lactic acid are anaerobically formed from a single molecule of glucose. When lactic acid is produced during fermentation, a racemic mixture of its two isomers is obtained. The L(+) and D(-) isomers will exist in equal quantities. When carbohydrate is fermented, glycolic and lactic acids will be found in the product mixture. This is the simplest form of fermentation. Lactic acid fermentation is a redox reaction that occurs in anaerobic conditions (Dworkin, 2006, 539).

Lactic acid fermentation as a process finds use in the food industry since it is used in the production of yoghurt. Milk is fermented with bacteria that are harmless, mainly Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. Milk is used as the culture in this process. When the pH of the milk is decreased, it congeals. The bacteria are responsible for producing compounds that give the resultant product the distinctive taste of yoghurt. By lowering the pH, the conditions become unfavourable for harmful bacteria, making this process effective.

This process also finds use in producing sauerkraut. This process utilizes genus Leuconostoc (Dworkin, 2006, 541). In lactic acid fermentation, the product will be dependent on the strain of microbe used. The strain of microbe that is used for fermentation will influence the stereo-specificity of the product. The