technology

Koji cultivation

Japanese solid-culture tradition of growing Aspergillus oryzae/sojae on grains to make koji for shoyu, miso and sake, now industrialized in automated large-scale koji machinery.

Where it's used

Solid-state fermentation bioreactors
Solid-state fermentation (SSF) bioreactors cultivate filamentous fungi, yeasts and bacteria on moist solid substrates — wheat bran, soybeans, rice, bagasse — at 40–70% moisture without free liquid, producing industrial enzymes (Aspergillus phytase, xylanase), organic acids, koji for shoyu/miso/sake, and biocontrol conidia (Beauveria, Trichoderma) at 3–5× lower cost than submerged fermentation, engineered around tray, rotating-drum and forced-aeration packed-bed hardware that solve SSF's defining challenges of heat removal, moisture control and oxygen transfer in a low-water matrix.
upstream-bioreactors 11 min