ABSTRACT
The application of continuous cultivation of microorganisms is a novel concept. Initial attempts were made in the development of such processes at the beginning of this century; however, the results were unsatisfactory. The setbacks commonly encountered have been overcome at the bench-scale level, yet industrial development of pilot plant and full-scale continuous production processes has been proceeding at a relatively slow rate. The uniformity of operation of continuous processes suggests relative ease in the automation of such a process. Batch fermentation occurs as an everchanging interaction between the external environment of the medium and an increasing microbial population. Continuous cultivation has served as an excellent tool for the investigation of growth-related problems and metabolite formation at the bench level. The early work was concerned with describing population variation to alterations of the external cellular environment. A variety of reports have appeared dealing with the biological production of growth-associated organic acids.
