Surface culture in the mass growth of bacteria

Abstract

OhioSummary. The present study was conducted to determine the feasibility of growing bacteria in quantity on solid media in closed vessels. Five techniques were investigated in the laboratory, including growth on agar, growth on packing in beds, growth on solids in a fluidized bed, growth in foamed medium, and growth on semipermeable membranes. Data obtained from the laboratory experiments were used to scale up these techniques on paper and compare the projected plants with a conventional submerged fermentation production. All the techniques compared unfavourably with submerged culture on the basis of plant and operating costs, operating complexity, equipment complexity, and safety. One technique of surface culture, growth on semipermeable membranes, appears to offer a decided advantage over submerged culture, in that the cell product can be recovered directly as a paste. Further work on this technique is recommended.

Dialysis culture of microorganisms: design, theory, and results.

“…The feasibility of employing membranes or other porous solid surfaces for producing masses of microorganisms in colonial growth has been explored from time to time (126,134). Invariably, -these have proven impractical; in principle, they -are inefficient, and the resulting cells are physiologically heterogeneous.…”