Introduction

Cultivation media for microorganisms consist of carbon-, nitrogen-, phosphate-sources and nutrient salts with trace elements and vitamins. In laboratories, synthetic media with well-defined composition can be used. In industrial production, complex media consisting of agricultural (by)products and wastes (molasses, pharma medium, cornsteep liquor, yeast extract, soybean meal, peanut flour, cottonseed meal, fish meal, etc.) with poorly defined composition are employed. During the cultivation and production process, the medium components are consumed and converted into other compounds. The aim of the downstream processing is the recovery and purification of the valuable products from this complex fermentation broth.