Solid-state fermentation--are there any biotechnological advantages?

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) has developed in eastern countries over many centuries, and has enjoyed broad application in these regions to date. By contrast, in western countries the technique had to compete with classical submerged fermentation and, because of the increasing pressure of rationalisation and standardisation, it has been widely superseded by classical submerged fermentation since the 1940s. This is mainly because of problems in engineering that appear when scaling up this technique. However, there are several advantages of SSF, for example high productivities, extended stability of products and low production costs, which say much about such an intensive biotechnological application. With increasing progress and application of rational methods in engineering, SSF will achieve higher levels in standardisation and reproducibility in the future. This can make SSF the preferred technique for special fields of application such as the production of enzymes and food.