DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THE CELLULASE PRODUCTION BY ASPERGILLUS NIGER IN SOLID FERMENTATION

Abstract

Determination of optimum temperature in the (PFasa) cellulase production, by a strain of Aspergillus niger in solid fermentationis presented in this paper, using data from a previously proposed kinetic model. Dependence of the 16 kinetic parameters withtemperature (in the range of 20 °C to 40 °C), was established. For μmax and xmaxparameters, the adjustment was achieved using the Rosso and Ratkowsky models respectively. Cubic interpolation models was needed to adjust the rest of kinetic parameters. The dependence of the kinetic model parameters with temperature allowed the estimation of temperature and optimum fermentation time to maximize the productivity in the production of true protein and the activity of the three studied enzymes. As result, the optimum temperature rangeisbetween 30°C and 32°C. For the production of true protein and CMcasa, the optimum fermentation time is located within the19 and 22 hours respectively, but for the production of PFasa, is 33 hours. The protease activity presented several local maxima in terms of optimal temperatures ranging from 25 to 40 °C. Although the maximum activity levels are 64 UI/gdm, which, according to literature, is an intermediate value, the level of productivity of PFasa is the highest found (3.84 times superior to average activity), when compared with another 20 reports consulted since 2004.