Bovine Bone Charcoal as Support Material for Immobilization of Bacillus firmus Strain 37 and Production of Cyclomaltodextrin Glucanotransferase by Batch Fermentation in a Fluidized Bed

Abstract

The process described in the present work uses air supplementation in a fluidized bed reactor containing Bacillus firmus strain 37 immobilized on active bovine bone charcoal, to produce by batch fermentation the enzyme CGTase (cyclomaltodextrin-glucanotransferase). Three different aeration rates were evaluated. The maximum CGTase activity was achieved after 120 hours of fermentation with aeration rate of 2 vvm and was equal to 2.48 U/mL. When 0.5 and 1 vvm were used the enzymatic activities achieved 1.1 and 0.57 U/mL, respectively. Bovine bone charcoal was characterized in terms of surface area, pore size and volume. To the best of our knowledge, the immobilization of microorganism cells in bovine bone charcoal for CGTase production has not been reported in the literature. Our results showed that fluidized bed reactor allows retaining high concentration of biomass, improving biomass-substrate contact and operation at low residence times, which resulted in improved enzyme production. Therefore, the process as proposed has great potential for industrial development.