9. Conclusion and outlook

After a period of decline since the Second World War (except in the Far East), FMS now seems to be on the rise again, thanks to advances in pilot and industrial equipment and in the modeling aspects that seek to find appropriate mechanisms for process development and control. The global economic and ecological situation is also driving countries to explore all possible production avenues.

The use of biomass as a substitute for fossil fuels implies the valorization of lignocellulosic agricultural by-products. The total insolubility of these compounds makes solid-state fermentation a potentially very interesting technique for these new valuations by biological processes.

This has led to the emergence of new players in this field, such as Lyven in France, Alltech in the United States and Biocon in Ireland and India. Lyven was created in the...