Abstract

BERDUGO, C. I; MENA, J. A; ACERO, J. R  and  MOGOLLON, L. INCREASING THE PRODUCTION OF DESULFURIZING BIOCATALYSTS BY MEANS OF FED-BATCH CULTURE. C.T.F Cienc. Tecnol. Futuro [online]. 2001, vol.2, n.2, pp.7-15. ISSN 0122-5383.

Over the past years, environmental regulations have driven a lot of effort for the development of new technologies for the upgrading of fossil fuels. Biotechnology offers an alternative way to process fossil fuels by means of a biodesulfurization technolgy where the production of the biocatalyst is one of the key topics. Traditionally, the production is carried out in batch culture where the maximum cellular concentration is restricted by inherent limitations of the culture type and the microorganism growth rate. This work adresses the production of two desulfurizing microorganisms: Rhodococcus erythropolis IGTS8 and Gordona rubropertinctus ICP172 using fed-batch culture. Fed-batch cultures were conducted in a 12 L fermentor using ICP4 medium containing glucose and DMSO as carbon and sulfur sources. As a result, cell concentration was increased 1.5 and 3 times with fed-batch cultures using constant and exponential flow respectively, achieving a maximum cell concentration of 7.3 g DCW/L of biocatalyst IGTS8 and 12.85 gDCW/L of the new biocatalyst ICP172. Both biocatalysts presented biodesulfurization activity in a spiked matrix (DBT/HXD) and in Diesel matrix with the detection of 2-HBP, which is the end-product of DBT degradation pathway.

Keywords : biocatalyst; biodesulfurization; high density cultures; fed-batch cultures.

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