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Article: Fermentation technologies have a major economic impact. (Technology).(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- SaskBusiness
- Article date:
- March 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Sunrise Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Few of us are aware of the important role fermentation technologies play in our lives, even though we use products of these technologies every day. Fermentation involves the use of micro-organisms, such as bacteria, yeast and fungi, to make a wide variety of industrial products. It is used, for example, to produce 75 million tonnes of beer and wine worldwide every year. Fermentation is also used to make ethanol, which is becoming a significant new fuel stock, both as a gasoline additive and a source of hydrogen for fuel cells. Canada currently produces 250 million litres of ethanol a year.
But alcohol is just one of many products produced from fermentation. ...