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Sterilization of nutrient media is an operation Bacterial spores are by far the most heat resistant forms
essential to all industrial fermentation processes re- of microorganisms.
quiring pure culture maintenance. AMethods for steri- The thermal resistance of bacterial spores is in-
-I
w
-J
103
k - 0.25
102 \ k . . 00057 SEC.-'I ,o
0
SEC.-'
z
z
FIG. 1. Survivor curves for spores of Bacillus stearothermophilus strain 1518 at two different temperatures
1957] STERILIZATION OF NUTRIENT MEDIA 223
Batch Sterilization
The most common method of heat sterilizing nutrient
media is the batch method. The medium ingredients are
charged directly into the fermentor. The fermentor and
medium are sterilized by heat transferred across the -1 f
Fa
often steam is injected directly into the medium 3--
through the air sparger to speed up the sterilization. 0
-J
>
3Various other terms commonly are used to describe ther- 1i0
mal behavior of bacterial spores during heat sterilization,
especially in the food industry. The terms used in this article
are consistent with those used in chemical reaction kinetics.
Some other terms and their relationship to the velocity con-
stant, k, are tabulated for reference purposes.
0.00135 000137 0.00139 0.00141 0.00143 0.00145 0.00147 0.00149
Term Relation Definition RECIPROCAL TEMPERATURE R
T ~~~~~~~R
kT The ratio of the velocity constant at a FIG. 2. Effect of temperature on the velocity constant for
Qio destruction of spores of Bacillus stearothermophiluis strain
klTjo particular temperature to the veloc-
ity constant at a temperature ten 1518.
degrees lower. This ratio is often
falsely assumed constant over the TABLE 2. Activation energies and entropies for first order
entire temperature range. It dimin- degradation of B-complex vitamins and death of bacterial
ishes as temperature is raised spores
D 2.3 Two synonymous terms representing Energy Entropy
Vitamin or Bacterial Spore AS
k the time required for 90 per cent de- A
2.3 struction of a spore population at a cal/mole cal/mole K
k particular temperature, often called
the decimal reduction time Folic acid ............................... 16,800* -14.1 t
d-Panthothenyl alcohol ....... ........... 21,000* 5. it
Cyanocobalamin ............. ............ 23,100* 2.2t
TDT 2 3 log N, Thermal death time, a term attached
to the time required for "complete" Thiamine hydrochloride .................. 26,000* 11.4t
k N2 Bacillus stearothermophilus strain 1518.... 67,700 105
destruction of spores in a particular
environment. Algebraically, this Putrefactive anaerobe NCA 3679 ..... .... 72,400t 1234
Clostridium botulinum ......... ........... 82,l00t 160t
term is meaningless unless N2 has
some finite value *
Garrett (1956).
F as above The thermal death time at 250 F t Calculated from data of Garrett (1956).
t Levine (1956).
224 F. H. DEINDOERFER [VOL. 5
of batch ingredients and in heating time. If water at explains the different shapes of the heating cycles in
50 F were used in batch make-up it would have taken figure 4. Coils are added to larger fermentors to provide
an additional 30 min to heat the medium in the 15,000- additional heat transfer surface. Very often, too, the
gal fermentor to 110 F. In order to avoid extending the amount of steam directly injected into the medium
graphs unduly, 110 F was used as the finishing tempera- per unit volume is increased for larger fermentors. De-
ture. Actually, temperatures below 200 F have little spite this, however, the disadvantages of increased size
effect on the sterilization. are not fully compensated.
All the vessels characterized in figure 4 are reasonably Obviously, the rising and falling portions of the
geometrically similar. Because of this congruency, the sterilization cycle contribute significantly to fermentor
heat transfer area per unit volume decreases as vessel and medium sterilization, especially in larger vessels. A
size increases. Also, since the vessels operate at similar method for determining the contribution of these
power input per unit volume levels, the heat transfer portions to the sterilization is suggested through the
coefficient also decreases as vessel size increases. This use of the thermal-death relationships discussed earlier.
STEAM INILETS L {=
AND EXHAUST AIR OUTLET
COOLING WATER (STEAM VENT DURING STERILIZATION)
OUTLEETS
FIG. 4. Temperature rising and falling curves during sterilization of medium in various sized fermentors
STERILIZATION OF NUTRIENT MEDIA 225
The method involves a graphical integration of the presterilized medium. For how long must the medium
velocity constant over these portions of the cycle. k is a be sterilized at 250 F to be sure of sterilization in 999
function of T as shown in figure 2 and described in out of 1000 batches?
equation 3. T is a function of time, 0, as described by the Solution. For sake of illustration, assume the curve
heating cycle. Therefore, k is also a function of 0. An in figure 2 characterizes the most heat resistant bacterial
average value of k for each portion of the cycle can be spores in the penicillin medium. Also, let the heating
obtained by graphically integrating k over the time cycle of the 15,000-gal fermentor shown in figure 4
period involved and dividing the integral by the time represent the heating cycle of the fermentor under
represented by the portion, as in equation 5 below. consideration. 220 F is chosen as the minimum lethal
2 temperature. This is an arbitrary choice, of course.
lCv k dO (5) Actually lower temperatures are lethal but their
kavg =
1
relative lethality is small and neglecting them does not
02 - 01 introduce any significant error.
It should be kept in mind that the heating cycle Since the percentage of the laboratory bacterial
z
0
.016
0
-I
w .012
.008o
0 TIME MINUTES
FIG. 5. Velocity constant variation over rising and falling temperature portions of sterilization cycle
226 F. H. DEINDOERFER [VOL. 5
tion of equation 5, yields values of kavg for each of these Thus, only 8.8 min at 250 F are required for the
portions of the cycle. For 29.5 min of the rising portion, sterilization of the fermentor.
kavg is equal to 0.0112 sec-1 and for 13.2 min of the For comparison, similar calculations have been
falling portion, kavg is equal to 0.0066 sec-'. made for the other sterilization cycles depicted in
Therefore, for portions of the heating cycle totalling figure 4. The results are listed in table 3. As vessel size
42.7 min, a kavg of 0.0098 sec-' can be used to calculate increases, the respective contributions of the rising and
the contribution of these portions to the sterilization. falling portions of the cycle increase, and consequently
Using equation 2, the population remaining if these the time required at so-called sterilization temperature
two periods followed each other can be calculated. decreases.
X 1014
log-9.07 N2 Heat Effects on Nutrients
(0-0098 sec') (60 sec/min) (42.7 min) The time required for batch sterilization is not
usually the optimum time of heating when product
2.3
MAKE -UP
TANK
UNSTERILE I
MEDIUM WATER
FIG. 6. Steam-injection type of continuous sterilizer
1957] STERILIZATION OF NUTRIENT MEDIA 227
The conditions in a batch sterilization carried out at only those sterilizations at 275 F could be approached,
250 F cannot always achieve sterilization without if at all, in conventional fermentors.
impairing nutrient quality of the medium. Higher tem- The calculation of sterilization conditions for con-
perature-shorter time batch sterilizations can be carried tinuous operation is simplified by almost instantaneous
out, but fermentation vessels are usually limited to rising time to sterilization temperature and a rapid
operation at not more than 30 psig (274 F) by design cooling period thereafter. For this type of sterilization,
restrictions. only the velocity constants of the most resistant spores
present in the medium and the total initial bacterial
Continuous Sterilization concentration need be known to perform the calcula-
A sterilization method becoming increasingly popular tion. Usually, in production operations the sterilizer is
and having several advantages over the conventional of a fixed length. Different retention times are achieved
batch sterilization is continuous sterilization. Contin- by controlled pumping. If temperature conditions are
uous sterilization of media for riboflavin fermentations specified, the retention time can be calculated easily
has been reported by Pfeifer et al. (1950) and for from equation 2. If process conditions dictate a certain