Development of a small scale pilot plant (biofermentory) for the production of an innovative probiotic health beverage

该项目是将一种创新的健康软饮料推向市场的计划的组成部分。它将被定位为一种功能性饮料和一种日常产品，在日常零售中或在食品服务环境中为消费者提供“更好的选择”。虽然具有健康的性质，它将是可口的，容易饮用。具体来说，它将是一种利用益生菌培养物的独特活性的益生菌产品。这将是一种特殊的“酿造”产品，采用创新的培养和发酵技术，在定制的工程加工设施中。近年来，人类肠道微生物群的重要性以及益生菌在愈合和支持它方面的作用已经变得非常清楚。同样，现代生活方式似乎对微生物群的多样性和功能造成了严重破坏。包括哮喘、儿童食物不耐受和过敏、湿疹和其他皮肤问题、自身免疫性疾病、糖尿病等在内的现代健康状况明显不断增加，越来越多的人认为，这些疾病与肠道微生物群健康的减弱或失衡密切相关。甚至有研究表明，肠道微生物群与心理健康和幸福之间存在联系，包括对抑郁和焦虑的影响。这一领域正在进行的科学研究几乎每天都有越来越多的证据表明，益生菌对支持我们的微生物群是多么重要。益生菌不仅对我们的整体健康和福祉很重要，而且现在很清楚，益生菌可以用于一种低干预治疗方法，专门用于治疗健康状况。传统上，益生菌一般用于胃肠道疾病，现在益生菌的使用数量大幅增加，它们被用于治疗越来越多的全身疾病。由于基材的新颖和独特的性质以及所使用的生物过程，需要定制的处理设施。该项目的目的是开发一个定制的小规模试点工厂。它被认为是一个生物加工或生物发酵工厂。该项目将结合生物化学和工艺工程原理，并将通过最终概念设计，元素采购和采购，工厂安装，调试和现场批准测试等阶段进行。项目结束后，该工厂将继续帮助确定和改进最终产品的最佳方法、操作参数和配方。它将成为最终全面商业设施的原型。

The project forms an integral part of a programme to bring to market an innovative, healthy soft drink. It will be positioned as a functional drink and an everyday product that will give consumers a 'better choice' option in everyday retail or from a low/no menu in a food service setting. While having healthy properties it will be palatable and easy drinking. Specifically is will be a probiotic product employing the unique activity of probiotic cultures. It will be a specially 'brewed' product adopting innovative culturing and fermentation techniques in a custom engineered processing facility.The significance of the human gut microbiome and the role of probiotics in healing and supporting it has become abundantly clear in recent years. Likewise, modern lifestyle appears to wreak havoc on the diversity and function of the microbiome. The apparently relentless rise in modern health conditions including asthma, childhood food intolerances and allergies, eczema and other skin issues, auto-immune disorders, diabetes and many more is increasingly considered to go hand in hand with waning or imbalances in gut microbiome health. A link has even been shown between gut microbiome and mental health and wellbeing, including effects on depression and anxiety.Growing evidence from ongoing scientific research in this field is being published almost daily that demonstrates just how important probiotics are to support our microbiome. Not only are they important to our general health and wellbeing, it is now clear that probiotics can be employed in a type of low intervention therapeutic way to specifically treat health conditions. Once where they were traditionally employed generically for gastrointestinal conditions, now there is a substantial increase in the number of uses of probiotics and they are being used to treat a growing number of systemic conditions.Due to the novel and unique nature of the substrate and the bioprocess used, a bespoke processing facility is required. The purpose of this project to develop a bespoke small scale pilot plant. It is considered to be a bioprocessing or biofermenting plant. The project will incorporate biochemical and process engineering principles and will progress through phases of finalised conceptual design, element sourcing and procurement, plant installation, commissioning and site approval testing. Following the project, the plant will go on to be employed to help determine and refine optimal methodology, operating parameters and recipes for the end product. It will become a prototype for an eventual full scale commercial facility.