Microorganisms are a general term, including all the lower organisms with tiny morphology and simple structure. At the mention of microorganisms, some people will frown and feel disgusted. Because they think that microorganisms bring human diseases, plant diseases and food deterioration. In fact, this feeling is not fair. For human beings, most microorganisms are beneficial and harmless, and only a few will cause harm. Generally speaking, microorganisms do more work than they have done, and the work is far greater than the work they have done. In recent years, the rapid rise of fermentation engineering, it is these microorganisms in the busy, endless work, even at the expense of crushing, so that colorful products come out one by one. Microbes have made selfless contributions to mankind, from lactic acid bacteria drinks such as Robust milk to drugs such as interference poison, which is more expensive than gold.

Microorganisms play the role of producers in the fermentation process, which is inseparable from their characteristics. They have the Monkey King-style survival skills and a pig-like appetite, and they also formed the world's first "super-life guerrilla". The Monkey King is an immortal hero. The viability of microorganisms has also been improved. They have strong adaptability to the temperature, pressure, pH and dry and wet conditions of the surrounding environment. At the bottom of 10 km, people will be pressed into a piece of paper, while some bacteria are still alive happily. At the ultra-low temperature of -250℃, some microorganisms are still in a "hibernation" state. If the conditions are right, microorganisms will continue to multiply and grow, and they have never seen death themselves. And these undead little guys are extremely greedy, even hungry. Delicious needless to say, even oil, plastics, metal oxides, industrial wastes, DDT, arsenic and other poisons will become delicious food that some microorganisms scramble to swallow. Eat more, grow faster, and the reproductive speed is naturally amazing. If an Escherichia coli can reproduce smoothly and unimpeded, its weight will be four times that of the earth in two days! It is these characteristics of microorganisms that make them the main commanders and heroes in fermentation engineering. Fermentation tank is an external environmental device for microorganisms to grow, reproduce and form products during fermentation. It replaces traditional fermentation containers-various culture bottles, sauce jars and wine cellars. Compared with traditional containers, the most obvious advantages of fermentor are: strict sterilization can be carried out, and air can be circulated as needed, thus providing a good fermentation environment; It can be stirred and shaken to promote the growth of microorganisms; Can automatically control temperature, pressure and air flow; It can measure the concentration of bacteria, nutrients and products in the fermentation tank through various biosensors, and adjust the fermentation process at any time with a computer. Therefore, the fermenter can realize large-scale continuous production, maximize the use of raw materials and equipment, and achieve high yield and high efficiency. In this way, people can make full use of fermentation methods to produce needed food or other products. It can be simply said that fermentation engineering is to use modern technical means to control the fermentation process and produce fermented products on a large scale by studying and transforming fermented strains.

Protein is the main substance that constitutes human tissues, and it is also a very scarce food on the earth. A large number of single cell proteins are produced by fermentation engineering, which can quickly supplement the shortage of natural products. Because in the fermentor, every microorganism is a synthetic factory in protein. 50 ~ 70% of the weight of each microorganism is protein. In this way, people can use a lot of "waste" to produce high-quality food. Therefore, the production of single cell protein is one of the outstanding contributions of fermentation engineering to human beings.

In addition, fermentation engineering can also produce lysine, which is indispensable for human body and many medical products. Almost all commonly used antibiotics are the products of fermentation engineering.

Fermentation engineering not only produces food and medicine, but also is a powerful weapon to solve the energy crisis. Traditional energy sources such as oil, coal and natural gas will eventually be exhausted, and scientists have exhausted their efforts on how to continue to survive. In the 1980s, people finally saw hope: on the one hand, the utilization of nuclear energy, wind energy and solar energy has made great progress; On the other hand, the emergence of fermentation engineering can make the earth produce a large number of fibrous substances every year-straw, wheat straw, corn straw, shrubs, hay, leaves and so on. -transforming it into a new energy source for human beings through "fermentation engineering".

While developing new biological energy, fermentation engineering can also accomplish another important mission, that is, to treat wastes, purify the environment, and reduce or even basically eliminate environmental pollution.

In a word, modern fermentation engineering can help people make food, medicine, develop energy and purify the environment. Once the ancient biological fermentation method is improved by modern high-tech methods, it will increase the production efficiency by 1000 times, rejuvenate the old technology and make great contributions to mankind.