Solid State Fermentation of White-Rot Fungi - Study and Modeling of the Growth Process
More than a billion years of evolution have caused a variety of different fungi with unexpected enzyme diversity and enormous technical potential. Therefore an optimal cultivation of fungi, particularly of white-rot fungi, is of great interest to Bioprocess Engineering. The solid state fermentation is a robust process which is perfectly suitable for the on-site cultivation of white-rot fungi, where fungi serve as enzyme producers for the treatment of lignocellulosics. It simulates the natural habitat of white-rot fungi and protects the mycelium against mechanical stress. In contrast to submerged systems in heterogeneous solid state systems the process description turns out more complicated due to the specific characteristics of filamentous fungi amongst others. The knowledge of these processes is fundamental for design, implementation and optimization of cultivation. The project contains the study and description of the growth processes of white rot fungi in solid state fermentation. The research work is focused on the following main objectives:
- Investigation, development and establishment of various methods of biomass determination in solid state fermentation and check of their applicability to real substrates (e.g. wood and straw)
- Performing of growth experiments on real substrates
- Modeling and simulation of processes
Project financing:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Project term:
01.04.2011 - 31.03.2014
Contact:
Steudler, Bley