**3. Optimising fermentation processes: impact of technology on fermentation**

Technology was coupled to fermentation making possible large-scale production for commercial purposes. Thus, the development of modern engineering, biotechnology and related advanced techniques has connected traditional food fermentations with large-scale production approaches, in which product quality and safety are guaranteed.

To obtain better integrated functions of microbial cells and enzymes, evolutionary engineering combined with other biotechnologies has attracted more attention in recent years. Classical laboratory evolution has not only been proven effective to letting more beneficial mutations occur affecting different genes but also has some inherent limitations such as a long evolutionary period and uncontrolled mutation frequencies [30].

With the arrival of 'genomics *era*' (genomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, metabolomics, proteomics, etc.) and 'synthetic biology' approaches, new ways of exploring fermentation are possible due to the possibility of selecting markers and improving cellular transformation strategies [31]. Thanks to these molecular biology approaches, the production of biomolecules through fermentation at large scale is more efficient, low time-consuming and low cost [32].

The development of fermentation technology is still being carried out in all aspects. This is intended to improve the yield and quality of products, reducing the costs of production and looking for processes environmentally friendly. Increasing fermentation products can be done by optimising the factors that influence the process from the aspect of the microbe itself, the environment and the technological facilities. Among these factors, the following have promoted optimization [33]:


Other approaches combine microbes and technology at micro-/nanoscale. This is the case of strategies based on electrochemistry, which have been reported as successful approaches, mainly in wastewater and sludge treatments [34].

### **4. Challenges related to fermentation for the next future**

As mentioned before, fermentation sustains many processes in food and beverage production at global scale as well as other processes like the production of marketed biocompounds: antibiotics, hormones, pigments, bioplastics, etc. Despite the intensive research efforts on fermentation-based processes, which involve various scientific areas such as plant/microorganism genetics, biochemistry, biomass chemistry and process engineering, the progress of the global use of fermentation has interesting challenges to address in the next future. This is particularly

**7**

supply.

ganisms at large scale.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

*Introductory Chapter: A Brief Overview on Fermentation and Challenges for the Next Future*

slow compared to the fast-growing demand on such biofuels worldwide).

significant in the case of bioethanol production as a fuel alternative (it is still rather

We are now entering the post-genomic age at a time when many genomes from plants, fungi and microorganisms used in industrial fermentation or microorganisms isolated from food fermentations have already been sequenced. This offers a new knowledge-based approach to the exploitation of these organisms for fermentation related to different industrial activities, from metabolic engineering of microorganisms to produce antimicrobials or nutritionals, to the molecular mining of activities yet unknown, but which could benefit food production as well as the production of market biocompounds. Besides, the availability of the genomes of many pathogenic and spoilage bacteria may open new possibilities for the design of novel antibiotics which target essential functions of these problematic bacteria. The real challenge of the genomics and proteomic era, as it applies to food systems, is the harnessing of this wealth of information for improved culture performance and activities, thereby improving the safety and quality and composition of global food

Another important challenge involves technology. Some microorganisms of interest recently described for industrial fermentations require 'extreme conditions' for growth like high salt concentration or highly acidic pHs. This is the case of halophilic or acid thermophilic microbes, respectively. Operating under these conditions causes corrosion (which affects the half-life of most of the bioreactor currently available), thus negatively affecting the implementation of these microor-

Finally, the design of fermentation processes based on circular economy is still a challenge. Some recent approaches tend to use food wastes as raw materials to design sustainable processes based on acidogenesis, fermentation, methanogenesis, solventogenesis, photosynthesis, oleaginous process, bioelectrogenesis, etc., in order to obtain various products like biofuels, platform chemicals, bioelectricity, biomaterial, biofertilizers, animal feed, etc. which can be utilised for FW valorisation [35].

The author is thankful to MINECO Spain (RTI2018-099860-B-I00) and

University of Alicante (VIGROB-309) for the funding.

The author declares no conflict of interest.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89418*

#### *Introductory Chapter: A Brief Overview on Fermentation and Challenges for the Next Future DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89418*

significant in the case of bioethanol production as a fuel alternative (it is still rather slow compared to the fast-growing demand on such biofuels worldwide).

We are now entering the post-genomic age at a time when many genomes from plants, fungi and microorganisms used in industrial fermentation or microorganisms isolated from food fermentations have already been sequenced. This offers a new knowledge-based approach to the exploitation of these organisms for fermentation related to different industrial activities, from metabolic engineering of microorganisms to produce antimicrobials or nutritionals, to the molecular mining of activities yet unknown, but which could benefit food production as well as the production of market biocompounds. Besides, the availability of the genomes of many pathogenic and spoilage bacteria may open new possibilities for the design of novel antibiotics which target essential functions of these problematic bacteria. The real challenge of the genomics and proteomic era, as it applies to food systems, is the harnessing of this wealth of information for improved culture performance and activities, thereby improving the safety and quality and composition of global food supply.

Another important challenge involves technology. Some microorganisms of interest recently described for industrial fermentations require 'extreme conditions' for growth like high salt concentration or highly acidic pHs. This is the case of halophilic or acid thermophilic microbes, respectively. Operating under these conditions causes corrosion (which affects the half-life of most of the bioreactor currently available), thus negatively affecting the implementation of these microorganisms at large scale.

Finally, the design of fermentation processes based on circular economy is still a challenge. Some recent approaches tend to use food wastes as raw materials to design sustainable processes based on acidogenesis, fermentation, methanogenesis, solventogenesis, photosynthesis, oleaginous process, bioelectrogenesis, etc., in order to obtain various products like biofuels, platform chemicals, bioelectricity, biomaterial, biofertilizers, animal feed, etc. which can be utilised for FW valorisation [35].
