Production of exopolysaccharide ethapolan by Acinetobacter sp. IMV B-7005 on fried oil and oil-containing mixed substrates

Abstract

Nowadays, the majority of microbial EPS are not produced on an industrial scale because of high cost and low yield of the target product. In this study, the cultivation conditions of Acinetobacter sp. IMV B–7005 for the efficient process of exopolysaccharide ethapolan synthesis on refined or cheaper waste oil and oil–containing mixed substrates were established. The production efficiency on the selected substrates was evaluated by the amount of synthesized ethapolan (g/l) and EPS–synthesizing ability (g EPS/g biomass). Regardless of the quality (sunflower, corn, olive, rapeseed) and type (after frying meat or potatoes) of waste oil in the biosynthesis medium, it was found that the polysaccharide synthesis and its rheological properties were at the level obtained using the refined substrate. Use of waste oil, especially mixed one, in mixture with molasses or acetate allows increasing the amount of synthesized EPS to 14–16 g/l. The obtained results show the possibility of developing a universal technology of ethapolan production on the oil–containing substrates and their mixtures, which is independent of the type and quality of the waste oil, as well as its supplier.