Bacterial cellulose (BC) is an exopolysaccharide synthetized by microorganisms of the genera Acetobacter, Rhizobium, Agrobacterium and Sarcina, using a wide variety of carbon sources. Nowadays industrial BC production is limited due to high costs, particularly associated to use of glucose and other sugars; hence, a lot of interest exists for research in alternative, and low-cost, carbon sources. With the need to feed an ever-growing world, agroindustrial by products and residues are becoming abundant and valuable raw materials for energy and materials production. Colombia is the eleventh producer of cacao beans worldwide. In cacao production, as with many other commodities around the world, a low percentage weight of the biomass produced ends up as the final product; in this case a mere 8% of the cacao pod corresponds to the dry beans, with the leftover 92% biomass left unused on the fields after the harvest. We are particularly interested in the mucilage exudate or sweating (CME), a liquid material that seeps from the white pulp surrounding the cacao bean. In this contribution we report that CME, from the CCN-51 variety, is mainly composed of carbohydrates (glucose, fructose and sucrose), proteins and trace elements such as K, Na, Ca and Al. Also, we show the feasibility of using CME (raw and supplemented with a nitrogen source) as culture media for BC production by Gluconacetobacter xylinus (ATCC®23768TM) using static fermentations. BC production using CME ranges from 0.43 ± 0.16 g/L up to 14.06 ± 0.69 g/L depending upon the composition of the culture media (raw or supplemented). The BC productivity observed with CME is similar, or superior, to reports found in literature using both: alternative (agroindustrial residues) or pure carbon sources. BC production, using CME as culture media, is an interesting application for this material that currently is not used by cacao farmers.

Bacterial cellulose production using cacao mucilage exudate as culture media

2019 Spring National Meeting

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