Development of a hard matter crushing peristaltic bioreactor inspired by an avian gizzard structure for Fermentation Acceleration

Abstract

In this work, we developed a peristaltic bioreactor with an enhanced crushing capability, inspired by the structure of the avian gizzard. Existing peristaltic bioreactors have limited ability to crush boluses, which makes the fermentation of substances such as agar gel time-consuming. To improve crushing capacity, we focused on bird gizzard. Birds utilize pebbles in their gizzard to aid in food crushing. Our approach replicates this mechanism by incorporating both fixed and freely movable spherical solids, which are compressed during operation, inside the bioreactor. An agar gel crushing experiment demonstrated improved crushing efficiency. Furthermore, in a mixed fermentation experiment using milk agar gel and yogurt, the pH value declined compared with that observed using a conventional device, indicating an increase in lactic acid bacteria. These results confirm that the proposed method effectively enhances fermentation.