Production of 2,3-Butanediol from Sucrose by Klebsiella pneumoniae NRRL B199 in Batch and Fed-Batch Reactors

In batch mode, Klebsiella pneumoniae growth and 2,3-butanediol/acetoin formation are increasingly inhibited by initial sucrose concentrations (S0) over 60 g/L. At non inhibitory conditions, a maximum sucrose consumption rate of 1,5 g/L/h was measured. With S0=204 g/L however, this rate decreased to 0.15 g/L/h. K. pneumoniae fermented 204 g/L sucrose to produce 84.3 g/L of a mixture 2,3-butanediol/acetoin with a yield of 0.41 g/g and a productivity of 1.06 g/L/h. Higher oxygen transfer rates improved the overall process rate but the product yield was reduced. Avoiding substrate inhibition, by performing the fermentation in fed-batch mode, a final 2,3-butanediol/acetoin concentration of 80.0 g/L was achieved. In this case, a productivity of 2.63 g/L/h and a product yield of 0.37 g/g were calculated.

Em regime descontínuo, o crescimento celular e a formação de 2,3-butanodiol/acetoína por Klebsiella pneumoniae sofrem inibição por concentrações iniciais de sacarose (S0) acima de 60 g/L. Sob condições não inibidoras, uma velocidade máxima de consumo de sacarose de 1,5 g/L/h foi observada. Entretanto, com S0 = 204 g/L, esta velocidade decresceu para 0,15 g/L/h. A fermentação de 204 g/L de sacarose por K. pneumoniae levou à formação de 84,3 g/L de mistura 2,3-butanodiol/acetoína, com uma conversão de 0,41 g/g e uma produtividade de 1,06 g/L/h. Um maior suprimento de oxigênio aumentou a velocidade global do processo mas reduziu a conversão em produto. Em regime descontínuo alimentado, a inibição foi evitada, tendo sido atingida uma concentração final de produtos de 80,0 g/L, com uma produtividade de 2,63 g/L/h e uma conversão de 0,37 g/g.

Influence of different nitrogen sources on the production of the antifungal activity of Bacillus UCR-236 and application of a microtiter reader system to evaluate this activity

Bacillus UCR-236 produces antifungal activity against mycelial fungi when sodium glutamate is present in the culture medium. The use of other compounds like yeast extract, peptone or urea as nitrogen source led to growth but no antifungal activity was produced. Using inorganic-nitrogen sources the cell production was very low and no antifungal activity was produced either. A microtiter system showed to be a rapid, efficient, economic method to evaluate semi-quantitatively the antifungal activity produced