Modelling Studies of a Process to Produce a Generic Bioconversion Feedstock from Wheat

Bioprocessing will meet its enormous potential towards a sustainable future only if a constructive restructuring is applied in the conventional fermentation industry. One of the most important problems in today's fermentation industry is the processing of raw materials (cereals and sugar crops) that are used for the formulation of fermentation media. An alternative process has been developed that offers low-cost processing of cereals from the initial wheat grain to a nutrient-complete generic bioconversion medium. This paper summarises the modelling studies that have been undertaken in order to simulate the main unit operations (milling, fermentation, enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat flour and fungal cell autolysis) of this process. These studies led to the optimization of each unit operation and provide many useful data for scale-up purposes.

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