Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Soviet Union built a 100,000-t large-scale production plant, but the price could
not compete with soybean and fishmeal. So, liquid fermentation to produce SCP
has failed to spread to date. Solid-state fermentation is an important way to reduce
costs; it is currently used for the processing of starch-processing waste. Anaerobic
fermentation products of silage and microbial silage of straws are still used, but
have low protein content, which is always used for improving palatability and safe
storage. The cost breakthrough for e separation of lignin and cellulase production
is the key for straw-fermentation industry. The straw-fermented feed could make
decisive progress and become the development direction of the microbial feed
industry.
10.8.1.3
Biopesticide Industry
Pesticides are a powerful agricultural weapon to prevent natural disasters, but
chemical pesticides also would cause environmental pollution, resistance to drugs,
and side effects to humans and animals, which has become a major social problem.
Biopesticides and biological control worldwide have received increased attention
since the 1970s and are important parts of ecological agriculture.
According to their function, biopesticides include insecticides, fungicides, her-
bicides, and growth-promoting agents. According to microbial taxonomy, biopes-
ticides can be divided into bacterial insecticides, mold pesticides, virus pesticides,
and so on. Products have been produced in industry, such as
Bacillus thuringiensis
(BT), validamycin, kasugamycin, and gibberellin. The biopesticide industry is an
emerging industry. Based on several years of research, Chen et al. proposed new
solid-state fermentation instead of liquid fermentation and made significant progress
in controlling production costs and toxic effects.
10.8.1.4
Industry of Organic Fertilizer by Biological Nitrogen Fixation
Fertilizer is obtained by chemical nitrogen fixation; it is a huge branch in the
chemical industry and is one of the main pillars of modern agriculture. Biological
nitrogen fixation is undoubtedly the future direction of development. Traditional
organic fertilizer is mainly composed of fibers; it actually uses microorganisms
to fix nitrogen. Because of the low efficiency of nitrogen fixation, it is difficult
to compete with chemical and efficient nitrogen fixation. But, chemical fertilizers
would damage the soil. Sulfur ammonia and chloramines have been banned and
replaced by carbon ammonia and urea. But, the lack of organic matter in the soil
will affect soil fertility (microbial flora), which increases the amount of fertilizer and
the cost of production. Lignin in the lignocellulose is the best carrier for nitrogen
fixation. Meanwhile, it is also the most scientific way of lignin utilization, which has
just begun to attract the attention of scientists. Lignin by slow microbial degradation
can produce plant growth hormone and has an unexpected effect on seedlings.
