Biotechnological production of calcium malate from sugarcane molasses using Acetobacter persici BX1
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Abstract
The production of calcium malate (calcium salt of malic acid) by Acetobacter persici BX1 using sugarcane molasses as low-cost carbon source was explored. Further investigation on untreated and pretreated molasses revealed that the highest concentration of calcium malate (22.90 ± 0.25 g/L) was obtained from the acid pretreatment using sulfuric acid. Under optimized conditions, A. persici BX1 produced a maximum of 36.07 ± 0.32 g/L calcium malate from sulfuric acid-pretreated molasses with initial sugar concentration of 250 g/L as the only carbon source without additional nitrogen supplementation within 96 h. The strain consumed 24.31% of the initial sugars with maximum production rate of 0.88 ± 0.02 g/L/h in first 24 h. These results indicated the potential of sugarcane molasses as an efficient and cheap.
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