Document Type : Original Research Paper
Authors
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155-4563,Tehran, Iran, Research center for new technologies in life science engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 63894-14179, Tehran, Iran
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155-4563,Tehran, Iran
3
Environmental Biotechnology Group, Biotechnology Department, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, P.O.Box:15815-3538, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
In recent years, biosurfactants due to wide applications in chemical, petroleum, food and
pharmaceutical industries, have been widely considered by researchers. Biosurfactants are produced by a
series of microorganisms, so it is important to screen culture medium and operating conditions in miniaturized bioreactors prior to scaling up to large bioreactors.In this study, using a kind of miniaturized bioreactor called ventilation flask, optimal production conditions, including filling volume and shaking frequency to produce a surfactin-type biosurfactant by Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, were examined. Moreover, the effect of oxygen transfer rate (OTR) on the surfactin production was investigated according to Amoabediny and Büchs model. The results indicated that the maximum biomass and biosurfactant yield which obtained under optimal conditions (filling volume of 15 mL and shaking frequency of 300 rpm) were evaluated 0.3 g/L/h and 0.0485 g/L/h, respectively. Also, at the same conditions, the amount of surface tension decreased from 60.5 mN/m to 31.7 mN/m and the maximum oxygen transfer rate (OTRmax) obtained as 0.01 mol/L/h.
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