Lysine is an essential amino acid found in animal protein. It helps the body absorb and retain calcium, enhances the immune system, is necessary for proper growth and repair of body. Lysine is important for two other reasons: the production of carnitine which is a nutrient for converting fatty acids into energy and help lower cholesterol as well as the formation of collagen which is the substance needed for bones, skin, tendons, and cartilage. This amino acid was first identified by Edmund Dreschel in 1899. Upon the discovery, Edmund was unsure of its exact significance.
The body is unable to manufacture its own lysine. However, adequate amounts of the amino acid are available in foods such as red meat, pork, poultry, eggs, fish, and Parmesan cheese. Nowadays, lysine can be used for different purposes. The main purposes are food and dietary supplement, medicine, cosmetics, chemicals, and feed for it is an essential amino acid for most mammals. The production of lysine is by chemical synthesis, extraction from proteins, fermentation, and immobolized enzymes. Today, lysine is manufactured by fermentation processes. A new trend of manufacturing lysine is by using the cassava plant which can be grown year-round, becoming a big advantage. A typical process of creating lysine based on cassava is done in numerous steps:
1. Cassava roots are lifted, trimmed, and transported to the factory for immediate processing.
2. In the factory, washing and peeling occurs on dry and wet rotating screens.
3. The clean roots are chopped and grated to a pulpy mass. The starch is extracted on conical rotating screens by flushing the pulp with the root juice. This leaves the residue wet pulp as a by-product.
4. The extracted starch suspension and starch milk are separated from the juice on hydrocyclones. Hydrocyclones are devices that classify, separate, or sort particles in a liquid suspension. The juice is discarded and used for other tasks.
5. The concentrated starch milk is refined on multi-stage hydrocyclones in fresh water, leaving the last stage as a pure concentrated starch slurry.
6. Without drying the starch, hydrolyze (break down with chemical water) it immediately into glucose syrup and starch sugar syrup, replacing the usual cane and beet sugar for the microbes.
7. The beginning of this transformation is liquefaction of the starch by acid or alpha-amylase. This hydrates the starch into shorter chains of polysaccharides.
8. The liquefaction is followed by a more complete saccharification with a form of amylase, amyloglucosidase, to a mixture of the monosaccharide and smaller amounts of the disaccharide maltose and polysaccharides. Saccharification is the breaking of a complex carbohydrate into its monosaccharide components.
~ In this method, bacteria are grown aerobically in a liquid nutrient medium with the starch sugar syrup as the carbohydrate and ammonia as the nitrogen source. The growth must also contain minerals and growth factors often obtained from corn steep liquor. However, the cassava juice serves the same.
9. To ensure correct digestion of the carbohydrate, the fermentation is carried out as a batch operated process to provide the time required. The bioreactors are made to hold large volumes.
10. The feed is prepared in the fermentation kitchen. It is sterilized and transferred to the pre-sterilized bioreactors. The bacterial culture is multiplied on a small scale and up-scaled a few times.
11. Filtered sterile air is supplied throughout the digestion. A temperature of about 30-35 degrees Celsius is maintained during the fermentation period. It's preferred to maintain pH in the range of about 6.5 to 7.0 throughout the fermentation cycle. This typically lasts 3-5 days. For adjusting the pH, conventional agents such as inorganic or organic acidic or alkaline substances may be used.
12. The bacteria selected for this process eliminates the amino acid that it synthesized outside its cell membrane. The lysine gathers in the fermentation broth as a watery solution of lysine. The solution may be pH-adjusted and condensed by evaporation. There, it would be ready for use as Liquid Lysine. Spray drying the same concentrate will create a powdery substance. The lysine content is usually above 60% calculated on dry matter as the L-Lysine. A slightly higher grade may be made by just filtering the broth before spray drying. For a denser high grade lysine, an energy friendly crystalization takes the place of spray drying.
1. Cassava roots are lifted, trimmed, and transported to the factory for immediate processing.
2. In the factory, washing and peeling occurs on dry and wet rotating screens.
3. The clean roots are chopped and grated to a pulpy mass. The starch is extracted on conical rotating screens by flushing the pulp with the root juice. This leaves the residue wet pulp as a by-product.
4. The extracted starch suspension and starch milk are separated from the juice on hydrocyclones. Hydrocyclones are devices that classify, separate, or sort particles in a liquid suspension. The juice is discarded and used for other tasks.
5. The concentrated starch milk is refined on multi-stage hydrocyclones in fresh water, leaving the last stage as a pure concentrated starch slurry.
6. Without drying the starch, hydrolyze (break down with chemical water) it immediately into glucose syrup and starch sugar syrup, replacing the usual cane and beet sugar for the microbes.
7. The beginning of this transformation is liquefaction of the starch by acid or alpha-amylase. This hydrates the starch into shorter chains of polysaccharides.
8. The liquefaction is followed by a more complete saccharification with a form of amylase, amyloglucosidase, to a mixture of the monosaccharide and smaller amounts of the disaccharide maltose and polysaccharides. Saccharification is the breaking of a complex carbohydrate into its monosaccharide components.
~ In this method, bacteria are grown aerobically in a liquid nutrient medium with the starch sugar syrup as the carbohydrate and ammonia as the nitrogen source. The growth must also contain minerals and growth factors often obtained from corn steep liquor. However, the cassava juice serves the same.
9. To ensure correct digestion of the carbohydrate, the fermentation is carried out as a batch operated process to provide the time required. The bioreactors are made to hold large volumes.
10. The feed is prepared in the fermentation kitchen. It is sterilized and transferred to the pre-sterilized bioreactors. The bacterial culture is multiplied on a small scale and up-scaled a few times.
11. Filtered sterile air is supplied throughout the digestion. A temperature of about 30-35 degrees Celsius is maintained during the fermentation period. It's preferred to maintain pH in the range of about 6.5 to 7.0 throughout the fermentation cycle. This typically lasts 3-5 days. For adjusting the pH, conventional agents such as inorganic or organic acidic or alkaline substances may be used.
12. The bacteria selected for this process eliminates the amino acid that it synthesized outside its cell membrane. The lysine gathers in the fermentation broth as a watery solution of lysine. The solution may be pH-adjusted and condensed by evaporation. There, it would be ready for use as Liquid Lysine. Spray drying the same concentrate will create a powdery substance. The lysine content is usually above 60% calculated on dry matter as the L-Lysine. A slightly higher grade may be made by just filtering the broth before spray drying. For a denser high grade lysine, an energy friendly crystalization takes the place of spray drying.
Lysine is available in capsule, tablet, creams, and liquids. These products are available for people to purchase to prevent a deficiency in it. However, a high dosage of lysine is not healthy too. If one does not receive a healthy amount of lysine, they are susceptible to anemia, hair loss, weight loss, loss of appetite, growth and reproductive problems, formation of kidney stones, fatigue, nausea, and dizziness. If one has a low level of lysine, they are susceptible to the formation of gallstones, increased level of cholesteral and triglycerides, nausea, cramps, stomach pain, and diarrhea.