Utilization of mixed fruit waste for exopolysaccharide production by Bacillus species SRA4: medium formulation and its optimization

The main focus of this research work was to carry out the fermentative production of EPS with mixed fruit waste as substrate. The medium formulation studied by sequential addition of medium components and replacement of sugar with mixed fruit waste. Amongst the six species of Bacillus studied, Bacillus species SRA4 produced EPS in range of 3.0-17.9 g/L, which was highest amongst all the species selected for the study. Thus for further optimization, the response surface methodology was used making use of Bacillus species SRA4. EPS production enhanced to 23.75 g/L. In 10 L shake flask and fermenter scale-up study was carried out. In the study, 10 L flask showed the highest EPS production of 17.95 g/L in 120 h, whereas in 10 L fermenter, it was as high as 25.1 g/L that too in 72 h only. The optimization study resulted in 1.76-fold increase in EPS production with nearly 48 h reduction in EPS production time as compared to initial production procedure. Replacement of sucrose with fruit waste extract made the process environmentally friendly; omission of l-cystine and use of 50% reduced amount of sodium acetate in the medium lowered the production cost of EPS. This method also solved the fruit waste disposal problem.