The Fermentation Facility is designed to help researchers to develop new fermentation and downstream processing technologies at small- and pilot-scale.

The facility has equipment for scaling up the production of industrially important chemicals, chemical feedstocks, enzymes, and genetically modified organisms. Researchers have access to state-of-the-art equipment and expertise in the areas of microbial fermentation and product recovery.

The Fermentation Facility is managed by the Center for Crops Utilization Research with additional funding provided by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Fee-For-Services

The Fermentation Facility offers a wide range of services to industry clients and University researchers to assist in the development of new fermentation and downstream processing technologies at a reasonable cost. View a list of the fermentation and downstream processing equipment.

Fermentation

• Small-scale fermentation process development (2L, 5L, 10L, 15L)
• Pilot-scale fermentation process development (500L, 1000L, 1200L)

Downstream Processing

• Continuous centrifugation
• Membrane filtration
• Cell homogenization
• Pasteurization (Vat pasteurization & HTST/UHT)
• Evaporation
• Pilot-scale liquid chromatography
• Spray drying
• Freeze drying
• Drum drying

Workforce Development and Training

• Industry fermentation and downstream processing workshop

  

Contact Information

Dr. Youjie Xu
Fermentation Scientist
1041 Food Sciences Building
536 Farm House Lane
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1054
(515) 294-9461
youjiexu@iastate.edu

Dr. Zhiyou Wen
Director, Center for Crops Utilization Research
1041 Food Sciences Building
536 Farm House Lane 
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1054
(515) 294-0426
wenz@iastate.edu