Knowledge based diagnosis of inoculum properties and sterilization time in lactic acid fermentation

A knowledge based system has been shown to be a powerful tool for diagnosing microbial activities during a fermentation process. Knowledge about lactic acid fermentation was collected by an experimental study of Lactobacillus casei . The effects of the inoculum properties and sterilization time on the cultivation were expressed in a form of a fuzzy rule-based knowledge network. The system was able to detect abnormal inoculum or sterilization conditions which caused malfunctions in the cultivations.