ABSTRACT
Coffee-processing waste water was chosen specifically as the substrate for growing biomass. The pilot plant operated for one coffee season under nonaseptic conditions, resulting in good fungal growth. Two factors led to the decision to use coffee-processing waste water as the substrate: the increase in contamination caused by those “wastes,” and the growing need for food. The Instituto Centroamericano de Investigacion y Tecnologia Industrial (ICAITI) sent personnel to work at and to supervise the building of the plant; the beneficio contributed by providing labor, building concrete tanks, and purchasing an air compressor. The beneficio was interested in working with ICAITI and in utilizing the process for producing biomass. In 1978 ICAITI researchers started a new fermentation process, stopping the fermentation before all the carbohydrates had been consumed. This resulted in the carbohydrates and biomass, which were concentrated to syrup.
