从实验室的摇瓶发酵，到万吨级生产车间的智能运转；从抗生素、氨基酸的规模化供给，到可降解塑料、生物饲料的创新突破——Fermentation is the critical step that enables biomanufacturing to move from "0" to "1".

It goes beyond traditional "brewing" or "antibiotic production." It is the essential pathway to scaling up bio-based products—from alternative proteins and biomaterials to pharmaceutical intermediates and functional ingredients.

[ 工业发酵 ] .

Industrial fermentation is the process of converting substrates into target products using microbial metabolic activity under controlled conditions.

But at a more fundamental level, fermentation is humanity's "collective domestication" of microorganisms.

传统发酵（酿酒、制醋、做酱）是人类无意识地利用了微生物的自然代谢能力。而现代工业发酵，则是有目的地改造微生物、精准地控制环境、高效地收获产物的系统工程。

In the biomanufacturing value chain, fermentation processes occupy a pivotal role that bridges upstream and downstream operations.: Upward, it determines whether the gene-edited strain can scale from plate culture to bioreactor; downward, it dictates product concentration and impurity profiles in the fermentation broth, directly impacting purification costs and final product quality.

[ 痛点：规模放大的“死亡谷” ] .

规模放大的终极目标，将实验室或中试规模发酵罐内的最佳操作条件精准地转化为生产规模发酵罐的高效生产模式，实现全规模工艺的最大单位体积生产率。

If laboratory-scale fermentation (1L-10L) is an art, industrial-scale fermentation (10 tons-500 tons) is a war.Many promising lab strains and datasets fail when scaled up to pilot or production levels.

挑战一：混合与传质的非均一性

In shake flasks or small bioreactors in the lab, the culture medium is considered "well-mixed," so each microbe experiences nearly identical conditions. However,在百吨级发酵罐中，由于罐底与罐顶存在显著的压力差、搅拌桨附近与罐壁附近的剪切力差异巨大、加料点附近与远端区域的底物浓度差异明显、气泡上升路径上的溶氧梯度and other factors.

这些因素使得罐内的微生物并非生活在一个均匀的环境里，而是生活在不同的“微生境”中。这可能导致代谢异质性，进而影响整体产率。

Challenge 2: The Limit of Oxygen Transfer Rate

对于好氧发酵（绝大多数工业发酵属于此类），氧气往往是最受限制的底物。传氧速率受气液接触面积、氧传质系数、气液界面氧分压差等因素影响。

In large tanks, oxygen supply is often more challenging than in small tanks due to increased hydrostatic pressure and longer mixing times.The potential of many strains is also limited by hypoxia.

Challenge 3: Exponential increase in contamination risk

The larger the fermentation scale, the more complex the sterile barrier becomes (with additional valves, ports, and sensor connections), the longer the operation time extends (including post-sterilization cooling delays), and the higher the risk of contamination.A single contamination incident can disrupt an entire week's production schedule.

[ Breakthroughs: Which Technologies Are Actually Landing? ]

从“黑箱操作”到“透明化过程”

传统发酵过程操作者只能监测有限的几个参数（温度、pH、转速），无法实时知道罐内的底物还剩多少、产物积累了多少、有无副产物抑制。

New Process Analytical Technology (PAT)Transforming the landscape: Raman spectroscopy enables in-situ monitoring of key metrics such as glucose, lactate, acetate, ethanol, and target products; near-infrared spectroscopy rapidly measures cell density and substrate concentration.

With this data, operators can "see" in real time what is happening inside the tank and adjust feeding strategies, agitation speed, temperature, and other parameters accordingly.

From manual expertise to AI-assisted decision-making

Leveraging machine learning and fermentation big data, we can analyze exhaust gas composition and pH change rates to issue early contamination alerts (even 2–4 hours before visible signs); based on real-time substrate concentration data.AIThe algorithm dynamically calculates the optimal flow rate to maintain substrate concentration within an ideal range. By leveraging historical batch data, it predicts the final yield for the current batch and determines the optimal time for tank discharge.

From Batch Production to Continuous Manufacturing

Traditional fermentation is batch-based: feeding, sterilization, inoculation, fermentation, discharge, and cleaning. This cycle repeats with significant non-production time between batches.

ApprovedContinuous Fermentation and Online Separation TechnologyAchieve 7×24 hours of continuous production, significantly improving equipment utilization, product concentration stability, and volumetric productivity. While this approach demands extremely high standards for strain stability and aseptic assurance, its application scope is gradually expanding.

From Single Reactor to Digital Twin Factory

Digital Twin是一个虚拟的发酵系统，它与物理系统实时同步，能基于当前状态模拟未来几小时的发酵趋势；当批次结果异常时，回溯找出问题发生的节点和原因；在虚拟环境中测试新参数、新策略，确认有效后再部署到真实系统中。

这些正在落地的发酵技术，正一步步推动生物制造从实验室走向工业化、智能化，若想要近距离触摸这些技术的真实应用场景、与行业同仁共探进化方向，2026易贸生物制造产业展览无疑是一个值得把握的契机与选择。

2026易贸生物制造产业展览将于8月27-28日在上海隆重举办This exhibition is organized by Yimao Medical. Invited guests will be present on-site, including:2000+Attendee,150+ Speaker,50+Premium exhibitors, featuring "Exhibitions - Products - Conferences - PartnershipsFour core modules focused on "breakthroughs in fundamental research and cross-sector industrialization," establishing a benchmark event for the entire bio-manufacturing value chain.