Antifoaming Agents for Submerged

Microbial Fermentation

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Antifoam Agents

• A defoamer or an anti-foaming agent is a chemical

additive that reduces and hinders the formation of foam
in industrial fermentation processes.
• The terms anti-foam agent and defoamer are often used
interchangeably.
• Commonly used agents are insoluble oils,
polydimethylsiloxanes and other silicones, certain
alcohols, stearates and glycols.
• The additive is used to prevent formation of foam or is
added to break a foam already formed.

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BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• In industrial processes, foams pose serious problems.
They cause defects on surface coatings.
• They prevent the efficient filling of containers.
• A variety of chemical formulae are available to prevent
formation of foams.

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BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
Types of Foaming Agents
• Oil based defoamers
• Powder defoamers
• Water based defoamers
• Silicone based defoamers
• EO/PO (Polyethylene glycol & polypropylene glycol)
based defoamers
• Alkyl polyacrylates

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BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
Industrial Problems

• The most noticeable form of foam is foam floating on the

stock surface. It is easy to monitor and relatively easy to
handle.
• Foam may cause problems with liquid levels and give
overflow.
• This might reduce the process speed and availability of
process equipment.
• High pressure on pumps.

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BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Antifoam & Foam Control Agent
for Fermentation Processes
• Polyalkylene glycol is optimised in the use of technology, and
complying with all the relevant food grade approvals, and
meets the needs of the fermentation industry.

• This high performance antifoam product effectively controls the

foam produced in a wide range of fermentation process
applications, including citric acid, yeast, antibiotic, alcohol,
glutamicacid, enzyme, protein, pharmaceutical, nucleotide and
cider production.

• This highly efficient product is soluble on cooling to below

20oC, so that all traces of defoamer can be removed by
washing with cold water.
BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus