The world of fermentation is massive not only in the number of organisms that are used and the variety of products produced but also in the variety of fermentation methods.  One alternative fermentation method is Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) which refers to the cultivation of microorganisms in absence of free water where microorganisms grow in the water film surrounding the carrier. Although, SSF possesses some challenges as compared with traditional fermentation known as Liquid-State (submerged) fermentation, the advantages of this fermentation for some specific group of microorganisms have kept this fermentation technology ongoing for a long time. Another non-traditional aspect of today’s fermentation is the selection of alternative fermentation feedstock. This technology started with the focus on lignocellulosic materials and now is expanding beyond that with lots of interesting research in this area! Topics for this session therefore, will cover in general the following areas in solid state fermentation and alternative feedstock including but not limited to: industrial application of solid state fermentation and alternative feedstocks, challenges around inoculum development, substrate optimization, microbial growth, effects of environmental parameters, microbial growth kinetics/ modeling, reactor design, operational strategies, production scale up, as well as downstream processes.

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