It's the Final Countdown!

Here we are, at the finish line, I can't help but think of how we ended up here and how quickly we arrived at this point in time. Reflecting back at where it all began in the first lecture, we were asked about our Hopes, Fears & Expectations. I can honestly say that I have surpassed my expectations of grasping an understanding of bioprocessing and didn't really consider its importance in the industry before I took the class but now I really do appreciate its significant relevance.  Looking back at my fears of having to 'Teach a class' and how anxious I was at the beginning of the module, I think its ironic that  I find that it was actually one of the most enjoyable aspects I took from my experience as a whole. I felt that our product choice and bioprocess design implemented was rather unique compared to others and that's what I enjoyed about it, it was more personal, I think it stood out more from the rest because it is not commonly known about and I think we did a good job in presenting our teachings.

There were many challenges that we had to face throughout our project, mainly down to because we could not find a source to explain how kefir products are produced on an industrial large scale. These products are not too common and tend to be dairy based but still the only information that I could find was on home brewing kefir products. Since we couldn't find anything we had to develop the process ourselves and how and what was needed to upscale from home brewing. We did not agree with the route that this process should go at first but we managed to find a solution that took the best aspects of all our opinions on the matter to develop a unique process drawing on all our experience and research. For me this was the most significant experience as it laid out the path for the rest of the project and involved us utilizing problem solving skills, teamwork, compromise and critical analysis of the situation. I learned that conflicting opinions don't necessarily have to have a negative affect if you are mature enough to work with team members it can result in a better solution than picking one option or the other. This situation really helped develop my ability to problem solve and work with others which will benefit me greatly if working in a team in future employment. 

It was interesting to see how much of the modules from previous years could be linked into many parts of bioprocessing showing us that there is obviously reasoning for why we do such subjects and not just for giggles! 

Finally I have  experienced many benefits from taking part in the module in many ways and have potentially stumbled across a viable product idea for the future. Who knows this may result in me pursuing a career as an entrepreneur!

The Student Becomes the Teacher!

So eventually the day came where the roles were reversed and we were the ones teaching the class. I felt quite calm coming up to it, I felt that we had immersed ourselves in enough information to handle any questions that people might of had afterwards and felt confident about our ability to present our teachings. We were one of the last people up to present which isn't ideal as I usually prefer to get it out of the way early before you can start to overthink things by seeing other people presenting, but you have to play the cards you're dealt.

When it was our turn to teach I thought we done quite well, we interacted with the class inquiring about their knowledge of gastrointestinal disorders and only briefly covered probiotics as we know they have previous knowledge in microbiology. Not many knew about kefir which was good for us because this is all new to them. Gave brief explanation of our experience with home brewing and moved onto our bioprocess design. For me I felt it was important that we shared our experience of disagreement over the bioprocess design and how we used the best of both glass and steel to come up with a solution for our problem, giving them insight into how we arrived to our final design and that it wasn't just straightforward. Our interactive game with the class in which we got them to identify the different ancillaries of the bioreactor design as we explain their purpose I felt worked well but was slower and took more time than I anticipated it would which ate into our allocated time. Finishing off handing out the miniature bottles of kefir water with our logo on it was a nice touch also in my opinion!

There were plenty of questions from the class about the product and the design, most of them kefir related but I was confident in my knowledge of answering all the questions that came and felt I answered them all quite well. There was no questioning from Barry at the end  (other than are you planning on starting a business!)  which I felt was a bit odd as we were the only group not to be quizzed. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, I am going to be optimistic and say good thing and that it was because we had answered enough/all the questions that could be asked already in the Q&A after the presentation.

Comparing how I felt about having to present to our peers a couple of weeks ago and how I felt after it I'm really glad that I done it and found it really enjoyable, it definitely was worth doing and aided my learning as well as helped my confidence about presenting which will benefit me in my future endevours (especially if we go ahead and start up a business like Barry enquired!). It was also interesting seeing other peoples approach to teaching the class and the the diversity of the different bioprocesses picked and comparing them with ours.

Pre-teaching jitters

Now that our bioprocess has been established the next step in the journey was working towards getting the information about our work and achievements out there. The way to do this was by completing the tasks that Barry had set out for us in the shape of an infograph, the ePortfolio, and the much eagerly awaited teaching class to our peers.

These tasks were less daunting as they were group work so with good teamwork and communication the workload can be evenly distributed as well as having the benefit of getting somebody else's point of view and opinion on different matters. First up was the infograph which is a visual representation of information and data. Honestly I think we fell short of our own standards on this hurdle, we tried to design it using PowerPoint and it kind of just came out as poorly laid out and didn't really get our point across well enough. Looking back on it I feel we would of benefited a lot more from using one of the many software available online to design our infographic instead of trying to do it ourselves, but sure look it you live you learn!

The ePortfolio is another piece of work that constantly needs developing throughout the year and I feel that while its a good idea to do in theory I also think it's a bit unfair to expect a good quality website from people who have little computing skills and no background in web design, I struggle to master an iPhone! But I do see the benefits of having a project that involves constantly updating and relaying information about your process that is easily accessible and can have feedback constantly from lecturer, because it needs to be updated regularly it keeps the subject fresh in your mind as you are constantly thinking of it. It is mostly about the quality of the information you provide and in a simple manner. Problem is I'm useless with computers so i'll just try to provide the information and slot it in and hope for the best!

Lastly we have to look towards the dreaded teaching class to our peers...this is where we put in a fair amount of work. To be honest the prospect of doing this task is nowhere nearly as grim as it was a couple of weeks ago, we know our bioprocess backwards in and out because we are the ones who came up with it, I was a lot more worried about teaching the class before we had the end design sorted. The key now is to provide the information to the class in an interactive way that gets them interested in the idea. We think it will be fun to play a game with the class at the end to test their knowledge. I have plenty of kefir water at home so we are thinking it might be funny to bring in small prototypes for the class at the end of our presentation. Even though I may be a little bit anxious, strangely dare I say it, I might actually be kind of looking forward to this! We'll have to wait and see how it goes!

The Bioprocess

Since we now know what direction we want to go with our bioprocess on a larger scale by incorporating a two stage process of fermentation and processing of the product that we came up with.

Our bioprocess will begin in a similar manner to the home fermentation, in which several glass vessels (5-7 litres) holding a 7-10% sugar solution and water kefir grains. Will have cloth over opening held down with elastic band keeping out contaminants while allowing the Carbon dioxide produced by the fermentation process to escape. The room in which this stage takes place will be monitored to be kept at an optimum temperature of 22oC for a period of 24-36 hours. Once the water has successfully been cultured the glass jars are brought to the bioreactor where the cultured water can be transfered into the bioreactor while using a non-metallic strainer to separate the grains allowing them to be reused in a fresh clean jar repeating the initial process. The used jar can be brought off to be cleaned and ready for re-use.

The next step begins when enough of the kefir water is built up in the bioreactor. The bioreactor cools the liquid down to 4oC to prevent excess microbial growth and Carbon dioxide build up (causes an off-flavour). Once cooled flavouring can be added (2% fruit juice concentrate) which will be homogenised throughout the liquid medium with a motorised impeller (set for 80 RPM) overnight as electricity cost rates are cheapest at night. One of the ancillaries in the bioreactor design includes a non-return valve to 'burp' allowing carbon dioxide build up to be released without letting any contaminants in, perfect for overnight operations. The product is then ready to be bottled and distributed.

Diagram of Bioprocess

So there it is, our bioprocess, an amalgamation of research, learning, experience, compromise, problem solving and innovation. Having gone through the process I now realise how unique our process is and think we can be proud of how it has turned out with us taking advantage of our past experiences of home brewing, work experience, problem solving and overall team work to create a process that I feel ticks all the boxes. I feel that our process is very simple but that does not mean it's a bad thing, simplicity is key to functionality, the less complex the less that can go wrong. The simple process should be easier to explain in our teaching class which is a big plus. Furthermore I now realise that my ability to think outside the box has improved a lot.

Upscaling, How???

After proving that kefir grains can in fact be used to produce a cultured product through home brewing (further proven as part of my thesis through testing in microbiology lab that microbes are present and that they are probiotics....good to know that we're not just selling a placebo!), we then had to look into upscaling the process. Researching other kefir products such as kefir milk products which is popular in eastern European countries and is beginning to grow in some states in the United States as well as New Zealand did not yield any information on how they achieve milk kefir production on a large scale so we decided to develop the process ourselves.

After getting good information about bioreactors from our lecture with Barry we sat down and discussed how we should go about upscaling the process. This is where we reached a critical junction, we had split views on what sort of material we should use to carry out our bioprocess and how it should be carried out. I was an advocate for using glass jars like in the home fermentation but on a larger scale with numerous jars fermenting at once, whereas Shane was adamant that a full scale metallic bioreactor like the ones he used on work experience was needed.  I didn't agree with it as I felt the metal in the bioreactor would damage the kefir grains.After much debate it was decided that we should take time to analyse the situation as it is probably the most important aspect of our whole module and go look up the pros and cons of each material and meet back up and decide then which route to take once we are more informed.

So there we were at the cross roads of which way to go to implement our product, we had gathered information on the benefits and faults of each possible material when it dawned on us, why do we have to only chose one? Why not compromise and get the best of both worlds? The Kefir grains are affected by the metal in the bioreactor but not the product, so why not design an innovative way in which we can ferment using glass and process the product through the metal bioreactor. So we agreed that the best course of action was to utilize both materials in our bioprocess.

This for me was a significant experience in the development of the bioprocess because if we hadn't of disagreed with each other we would not of critically analysed all aspects of each option, with the resulting compromise of utilizing both yielding a superior solution. I have learned that disagreements are not always negative as it required us to use problem solving skills and required us to use problem solving skills which will be beneficial in life and the food industry. Initially I felt that there was no way to incorporate the steel reactor into the process without damaging the kefir grains, but by discussing of working with each other I know realise it can play a pivital role in our process. I am beginning to warm up to the idea of showing off our innovative bioprocess to the class, it seems less daunting.

Glass vs. Steel Vs. Plastic

	Pros	Cons
Glass:	·          Cheap when bought in bulk ($1per 10L container) ·          Chemically inert ·          Easily cleaned & replaced ·          Simplicity in set up and management ·          Fail safe with numbers, if one fermentation jar fails whole batch is not ruined ·          Transparent ·          Eco Friendly	·          Heavy & fragile ·          Not Automated, needs to be manually monitored and handled ·          Difficult to extract product and transfer into vessel for sale distribution ·          Too expensive to design large customised container, numerous small  containers would be more practical
Steel:	·          Robust ·          Versatile ·          Large Scale ·          Automated ·          Homogenisation ·          Flavourings and additives can easily be added into product ·          Auxiliaries for monitoring ·          Can be bought second hand	·          More expensive than other containers ·          If something goes wrong the whole batch is lost ·          Metal interacts with the kefir grains hindering productivity (Stainless steel can be used safely but still affects productivity) ·          Requires constant maintenance (Maintenance costs)
Plastic:	·          Cheap ·          Durable ·          Relatively easy to clean ·          Lightweight ·          Transparent	·          Not chemically inert , interacts with kefir grains ·          Can develop scratches which make it more difficult to sanitize and clean ·          Need replacing over time

The half way mark

Getting over the halfway point slump, looking back on what we've done and what needs to be done for the future

Half way through the module seems as good a time as any to stop and think about how far I've come and more importantly what steps I need to take going forward! looking back at my first bioprocessing lecture we were asked what our Expectations, Hopes & Fears for the coming year would be so I am going to look back and measure how I'm coming along so far.

At our first lecture I didn't have much knowledge about bioprocessing just small bits from previous modules such as biotechnology and microbiology, so I didn't set myself high expectations of changing the world but rather I was hoping to develop an understanding of what bioprocessing is, a new way of thinking and a different mindset of the food industry which I can say is definitely on track. Started off with identifying a problem and how it might be fixed. We've identified our problem of Gastrointestinal Disorders, came up with a possible solution in kefir water, now we have to figure out how to get the product on a bigger scale.

Setting up and developing an online ePortfolio seems like an innovative to make us really think about what it is that we are doing requiring us to develop a deeper understanding of our kefir water process in order to explain to others how it developed. As well as utilizing information from our bioprocessing lectures with Barry, previous modules such as biochemistry, microbiology and biotechnology and completing the memos from Nutriplus all mingle together keeping us on to help achieve our goal of developing a viable bioprocess to yield our product. I feel as if all our best brainstorming and cognitive thinking as a group happens after our bioprocessing lectures with Barry as we are all focused and in the right frame of mind after it, as opposed to mid week when we are working in Laboratories for our thesis.

Looking forward I am a bit apprehensive that we have to maintain a balance of keeping on top of future memos that are sent our way from Nutriplus, keep developing our ePortfolio as well as keep an eye on having to 'Teach a class' at the end of the module, we have to have our bioprocess all figured out before that and present it in a way that is informative, holds classes attention, is easy to understand and not boring. These are fears that hopefully I will overcome, which will be reviewed whether or not the Expectations, Hopes & Fears targets were achieved.

Home Fermentation

As part of my thesis "Development of a Probiotic Carrot Juice", I have to incorporate probiotics into carrot juice as a cultured product so I am fermenting my own Kefir Water at home. This allows me to gain first-hand experience on whether kefir water fermentation actually works first of all, as well as giving me real time insight into how it works, the conditions required, what can go wrong, how it can be improved or what needs to be avoided. I will also be carrying out microbiological tests and harnessing the laboratory skills learned through past modules in our course to ensure that there is a viable microbial count in the kefir water and identify what these microbes are, comparing the findings to literature on kefir content. These tests yielded that there was in fact yeasts and lactobacillus species present in the cultured water from these grains. 

So to begin the right equipment was required: 

• Glass jar (1 litre)

• Water Kefir grains 

• Non-metallic strainer

• Elastic band

• Cloth

• Water                                                                    

To begin a sugar solution was made up by dissolving normal table sugar (or brown sugar) into water to make up a 5-10% sugar solution, providing the kefir grains with the nutrients they require to ferment the water. This was added into the glass jar with the kefir grains, a cloth was put over the jar and held down with an elastic band to keep out contaminants while allowing the CO₂ to be released. While carrying out this home fermentation I discovered that time and temperature of brewing are very important with good growth being shown between 18-29­^oC for 24-36 hours. Any longer and the flavour becomes tart.

Once the water is cultured it can be strained off and separated the cultured water from the grains with a non-metallic strainer (Metal interacts and damages the kefir grains). It is then ready to be chilled in the fridge and ready to consume! After a while I began to flavour the water with non-sulphur dioxide preservative treated dried fruits (Sulphur interacts with the kefir grains damaging them) to help flavour the water. 

A Solution to our Problem?

After going off and doing more research on theories behind causes of gastrointestinal disorders, there is a positive amount of feedback about post remission treatment (where doctors treat the inflammation in the intestines) of patients with the consumption of functional foods such as probiotics. There seems to be a common belief between a lot of the research done on gastrointestinal problems that the microbial ecosystem diversity in our intestines plays a huge role in our health. The ratio of good to bad bacteria is disrupted when symptoms of IBD or IBS occur and the healthy microbial flora need to be replenished.

Some people believe that an over sensitive reaction to certain bad bacteria in the gut is what is causing the immune system to attack so excessively but this is just a theory and more research would be needed to prove it, but if true, probiotics may be a good preventative measure to stop these symptoms of IBD (Diarrhoea, fatigue, anaemia, cramps/abdominal pain, weight loss, loss of appetite etc.) flaring up and be a more effective form of treatment than with antibiotics which may be lowering the good bacteria levels in gut simultaneously allowing room for bad bacteria to thrive (Healthline, 2014) .

One source of probiotics and other beneficial microbes that has been hailed as a miracle source for gut health that seems to keep popping up is Kefir. The kefir is full of healthy probiotics, yeasts, enzymes, amino acids, vitamins and minerals which actively help cleanse the digestive system of toxins and restore healthy balance to ecosystem in the gut. It is regularly consumed as a dairy product such as kefir milk but the grains can be used to ferment water which is a great option for our dairy free probiotic drink.

We discussed this as an option for the product and agreed it was a good idea to go with for our concept as it has been given positive feedback by people suffering with gastrointestinal disorders, as well as being beneficial to consume for people without these disorders just to improve health. We believe there is a market for a kefir water product for this reason and that it is not well known about enough by the population according to our own personal survey done less than 20% of people had heard of kefir but did not really know much about it.

Next we will have to look into the barriers and obtactles of producing the product and the feasibilty of scaling up production. To get a better idea of how the process works I have decided to ferment some kefir water myself at home to get a better understanding of how it might work.

Developing and building on our product concept....

Now that we have a concept for a product to design we can look into it more and build up on it. Why we chose the idea of a product/ supplementation to help treat the symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease is because I myself am a sufferer of Crohns Disease and know all about the difficulties of living with such a condition. I thought it would be good to develop an idea to help other sufferers of IBD as there is relatively little known about the ailment but more knowledge is being gained and researched on about it in recent times.

There were many things for me Shane & Seán to discuss and research to build our concept into a viable product. For example what research has been done into crohns and colitis? What causes it? What are its symptoms? What triggers a flare up? How is it treated and managed? Lucky enough I can draw on my own experiences of dealing with Crohns to answer some of these. The cause of IBD is not entirely known but flare ups of cramps, loss of appetite, blood loss in fecal matter, fatigue and anemia are common symptoms of the disease. Some immuno suppressant medication can be used to help deal with the inflammation of the bowel but the most important treatment is DIET.


There has been an increase in the amount of research done on nutraceutical treatments to help with IBD such as Vitamin D and Probiotics supplementation. With this in mind we set out to develop a product fortified with Vitamin D, has anti inflammatory properties and contains probiotics. But what kind of product should we go for? We wanted to go for something quick and easy to consume as a snack in the morning or lunch. A drink? A chocolate or granola bar?

We decided on a health drink that could be taken in the morning or for lunch. We still have some barriers to get past such as figure out how to fortify the drink with Vitamin D, what ingredients could give it an anti inflammatory property and also what probiotic strain would be most beneficial to use, should we make the product dairy or non dairy as many IBD suffers are lactose intolerant to some extent, what bioprocesses need to be used to achieve desired end product, what is the products shelf life, how to stabilize the product so that the ingredients can all be contained in product properly?

For a quick video on the importance of probiotics click on link --->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k8Puxz54FQ

The journey begins with the first step...

First things first,I must admit I am beginning this journey of developing a product with little or no prior knowledge of bioprocessing! But I am using this to my advantage as I learn new and wonderful things about the process and how it is utilized to develop new products and hopefully with a fresh perspective from a different viewpoint like mine I can exploit and expand on new markets. :D

To put simply my understanding of bioprocessing is the use of Micro-organisms for the benefit or use of making a product from a biological source. It is up to a team of me and two other handsome men (Shane & Seán :-* ) to come up with a new innovative idea that would interest companies to invest in and develop.

We met up first and discussed what we knew about bioprocessing so far and what skills might be needed such as knowledge of microbiology, molecular biology, process engineering, immunology, biochemistry, bioinformatics & process analytical technology. Some of these skills we have gained through the yours of food innovation and some of these skills we are lacking in but will have to learn and develop as we go along.

We are lucky enough to have Shane on our team who has some 1st hand knowledge of some bioprocessing as he has worked in a micro brewery, so the 'master brewer' Shane will become a valuable team member with experience in the engineering involved in bioprocessing as we develop our product.

We met up for some brain storming and with myself being a long term sufferer of Crohn's Disease, an Inflammatory Bowel Disease with no known cure only long term treatment which often means drastic life style changes which I know all too well about such as diet. So we agreed to look into developing some sort of product or supplementation to help ease symptoms of IBD sufferers.