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Industrial Microbiology

	In broadest sense, industrial microbiology, is concerned with all aspects of business that relate to microbiology. In a more restricted sense, industrial microbiology is concerned with (i) employing microorganisms to produce a desired product, and with (ii) preventing microbes from diminishing the economic value of various products. This dual purpose is clearly seen in the food industry, a major area of industrial microbiology discussed in separate chapter on "Microbiology of foods, Milk and Dairy Products".
Various commercial products of economic value made by microbes are (i) medicines i.e. pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, steroids, human protein, vaccines, and vitamins, (ii) organic acids, (iii) amino acids, (vi) enzymes, (v) alcohols, (vi) organic solvents and (vii) synthetic fuels. In addition to these, quite recently potential of microbes could also be realised in (viii) recovery of metals from ores through bioleaching, (ix) recovery of petrol, and (x) single all protein production.
The term fermentation in industrial microbiology is used in a wider sense to include any chemical transformation of organic compounds carried out by using microbes and their enzymes. Production methods in industrial microbiology bring together the raw materials (substrates), microorganisms (specific strains or microbial enzymes) and a controlled favourable environment (created in a ferment or) to produce the desired substance. The essence of an industrial process is to combine the right organism, an in expensive substrate, and the proper environment to produce high yields of a desired product
Microbes possess a wealth of metabolic equipment that brings about diverse chemical transformations. This characteristic of microbes could be exploited in obtaining some valuable products of daily use. The cheap raw materials available in nature as a waste, may be converted into useful commercial products by the activity of microbes. Microbes thus serve a dual purpose. Firstly, they are good agents of disposal of these wastes, and secondly the resultant end products of their breakdown are seful commercial products.
	Industrial microbiology is an important area of applied microbiology. It refers to the use of microorganisms in commercial enterprise and . Cheap raw materials are converted to valuable products through the metabolism of microbes. Microbes for this purpose could be exploited in different ways. For instance this includes (i) synthesis of fermentation products as acids, alcohols or other organic compounds , (ii) transformation of one compound into another desired type, (iii) the production of enzymes, antibiotics, or insecticides, or (iv) the use of microbes themselves as food.

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