Monday, August 20, 2012

STPM Biology - chapter 5 (old syllabus) chapter 5 (new syllabus): Revision essay question 9

9. State the uses of fermentation in the industry.

Answer


There is wide range of applications in industry, especially in the food industry. For example, baking breads, manufacture beer, wine and alcoholic beverages, dairy product and ethanol. In the baking breads, yeast is needed to mix with flour. The carbon dioxide gas produced from the fermentation process enable the dough to rise and soften the breads when it is baked in the oven.
During the making of the dairy products such as yoghurt, the enzyme from bacteria acts on milk sugar (lactose) to produce lactic acid. The lactic acid can give the milk a sour taste and make milk into curd called yoghurt. In order to produce a variety of yoghurt which is different tastes and flavour can be added with various flavours like strawberry and blueberry.
The enzyme diastase in the malt derived from cereals or fruit juices can be manufactured beer, wine and alcoholic
beverages. The enzyme diastase converts starch and other sugars into maltose. Yeast is then added to allow fermentation to take place. During this process, the maltase converts the maltose into glucose. Glucose is converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide by the enzyme zymase. The fermented mixture is then distilled to produce beer or wine depends on ethanol concentrations.
Ethanol can be obtained from the alcoholic fermentation. Ethanol acts as a solvent which used in the pharmaceutical industry. Ethanol can also manufacture various organic compounds such as acetic acid in vinegar.

Assignment submitted by S.M., Kang, E.S., Ong, T.W., Tan, K.Y., Ho. X.H., Wong 2011/2012 (IBM)

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