What about the bugs?

Microorganisms are so small that they can only be seen with a microscope.  Under the microscope, you can see them as single cells or in clusters.  Microorganisms can grow, generate energy and reproduce on their own.   Bugs is a slang word for microorganisms. It is sometimes just easier to use a shorter word! The microorganisms we use at Working Bugs are essential in our company's green chemical production.  We couldn’t do it without them!  That’s why we call them “working bugs.” 

There are four basic kinds of microorganisms—bacteria, fungi, algae and protazoa.   Bacteria and fungi are used at Working Bugs in our manufacturing processes.Here is a general description of bacteria and fungi:

Bacteria are the smallest of microorganisms.  There are many kinds of bacteria with different shapes and sizes.  There are spheres, curved rods, spiraled rods, straight rods, in chains or alone, filamentous (stringy), and branched.  Some of them live in the presence of oxygen (aerobic) and others in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic).  Bacteria live in a range of temperatures, and many bacteria prefer temperatures close to human body temperature. 

The fungi category includes commonly known organisms--molds, mushroom fungi, and yeasts. Molds are filamentous, stringy, microorganism organisms that grow into often fuzzy masses that can be seen with the human eye (on bread for instance!) .  Yeasts are spherical fungi, with buds that form and eventually split off from the cell to form new yeast cells.  Mushroom fungi are found as single organisms or as a group of cells attached tougher to form a fruiting body.  Mushrooms we enjoy eating are these fruiting bodies.
Algae are unique because they use light as an energy source.  They can be round or narrow and tend to clump together.   Clumps of algae are visible to the eye, floating on lakes and ponds.
Protozoa are the least commonly known microorganisms and include amobae, flagellates, ciliates and sporozoans.  They have no cell walls and often eat other microorganisms.

As a note, viruses (which we know from common flu and cold) are not microorganisms.  They cannot reproduce on their own.  Remember, microorganisms grow, generate energy and reproduce on their own.  Viruses need other organisms to survive.           

 

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Most microorganisms cause no harm at all and many are beneficial.   Some actually perform activities that are helpful to humans.  The helpful activities that microorganisms perform include the production of antibiotics, converting atmospheric nitrogen in the soil to fixed nitrogen compounds that act as fertilizers, living in our own bodies to help us digest our foods, and serving as ingredients and aids in food preparation.  Bread, beer, wine, and cheese, are examples of foods where yeast and bacteria are used in their production.  Other microorganisms are helpful because they break down soils and add nutrients, break down waste and leaves in composting, and are used in wastewater treatment to break down solids.  We would call all of these working bugs.

Disease causing microorganisms and microorganisms that are harmful to humans, animals and plants are pathogenic microorganisms.   Some of the diseases and illnesses caused by microorganisms include food poisoning, encephalitis, small pox, and malaria.  We do not use pathogenic microorganisms at Working Bugs LLC

 

We will have more photos and educational activities for this section soon.

 

What does Working Bugs do???

Working Bugs, LLC manufactures biochemicals using fermentation, a biological process.  Most chemical companies today make petrochemicals, using petroleum-based processes.  Biochemicals are made from renewable resources.  Petrochemicals are made from fossil fuels, which are non-renewable resources. 
Fermentation involves feeding microorganisms the sugars the bugs need to grow their population and produce chemicals.  Microbiologists know which microorganism makes which chemicals.  They each make particular chemicals if they are grown under the proper conditions.  Our microbiologists and engineers have studied what makes each microorganism thrive and produce chemicals in the best possible way.  They know how much sugar and nutrients to feed them, what temperatures and pH they prefer and other conditions they like.  Our scientists develop recipes and procedures for each biochemical that is manufactured at Working Bugs.   They follow the recipes carefully to produce biochemicals in large quantities in large scale fermentation equipment. 
Fermentation at Working Bugs is done by preparing liquid sugar broths for the microorganisms.  The “bugs” use sugars that are extracted and prepared from agricultural products, like sugar beets and potatoes.   When the broth is prepared following a recipe, the bugs are added to the broth and they begin to grow in numbers.  More bugs make more biochemicals, but there is a limit to how much they will grow and they are very fussy about their conditions.  We get much work out of our bugs but it also takes much work from the scientists to keep them thriving, growing and producing.  Each type of bug used, whether it is a type of bacteria, yeast, or other fungi must be kept in the conditions that are suitable for that microorganism.   In the end, the biochemicals are extracted from the broth to be sold as chemicals that are used in solvents, cosmetics, foods, and many every day products.

The above explanation was simplified, because the process is actually very complicated.  The scientists have training in various scientific fields and apply microbiology, chemistry, and engineering concepts in their work—along with common sense. 

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