
171Case Study: The Production of Nisin
There are many reasons that batch fermentation is chosen by the industry
over continuous fermentation for nisin production in addition to the sim-
plicity of batch operation. For instance, continuous fermentation requires
simultaneous cell growth and nisin production. However, the conditions for
maximum cell growth, maximum nisin productivity, and maximum nisin
bioactivity retention are different. The optimal pH for cell growth is between
pH 6 and 7 (Hurst and Dring, 1968; Wu et al., 2009) and preferably between
pH 6.25 and 6.5; the optimal pH for nisin production is between pH 5.5 and
6; and the optimal ...