Glutamic acid is an important amino acid that is produced industrially through fermentation using the microorganism Corynebacterium glutamicum. There are four main types of fermentation used - batch, fed-batch, continuous, and cell recycle batch fermentation. Batch fermentation is commonly used and involves inoculating a closed system with nutrients and microbes and allowing growth until nutrients are depleted. C. glutamicum is well-suited for industrial fermentation due to its rapid growth, ability to produce high yields of glutamic acid, and lack of pathogenicity. After fermentation, purification processes such as centrifugation, crystallization, and ion exchange are used to isolate glutamic acid.