ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Production of fructosyltransferase in mechanically stirred and air-lift bioreactors

Marcela Šedová, Viera Illeová, Monika Antošová, Július Annus, and Milan Polakovič

Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37, Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: milan.polakovic@stuba.sk

Abstract: Aureobasidium pullulans cells were cultivated in a 3 dm³ stirred bioreactor to optimize the production of fructosyltransferase (FTase). Batch experiments were focused on the influence of the initial sucrose concentration (150–350 g dm⁻³), sodium nitrate concentration (10–25 g dm⁻³), and stirring rate (180–540 min⁻¹) on the process. It was found that the FTase specific activity per cell mass was positively influenced by the conditions that impeded the cell growth such as higher sucrose concentrations or lower oxygen transfer rates. Higher content of inorganic nitrogen substrate slightly increased the overall FTase production. The presence of fructose moiety-containing saccharides in the cultivation medium was observed to be indispensable for FTase production. An addition of a concentrated sucrose solution in the 40th cultivation hour therefore essentially resumed the FTase production. Finally, scale-up experiments were performed in 12 dm³ and 100 dm³ mechanically stirred bioreactors and in 20 dm³ and 60 dm³ air-lift bioreactors.

Keywords: fructosyltransferase – bioreactor – stirred-tank – air-lift – optimisation – scale-up

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-014-0563-5

Chemical Papers 68 (12) 1639–1648 (2014)