Glutaraldehyde sterilisation of fermentation media - with greatly reduced energy use compared with steam sterilisation

摘要

Sterilisation of microbiological media for fermentation by: (a) treating the medium with glutaraldehyde; (b) adjusting the pH of the sterilized medium from (a) to >6.5; and (c) treating the medium from (b) with >=1 nitrogenous cpds. e.g. ammonia, prim. amines, sec. amines, heterocyclic amines, ureas and amides to inactivate the glutaraldehyde. Large savings in energy are achieved c.f. conventional steam-sterilising process, and equipment is less costly. There is a lower loss in nutrients than in steam sterilising. A typical medium for benzylpenicillin fermentation was sterilized with glutaraldehyde (0.1%) at 24 degrees C and pH 5.5, NaOH was added to pH 7 and formed NH3 from (NH4) in the medium which neutralised the glutaraldehyde.