In this work, a three-level Box–Behnken factorial design was employed combining with response surface methodology (RSM) to optimize the medium composition for the production of the mycelial biomass and exo-polymer in submerged cultures by Grifola frondosa GF9801. A mathematical model was then developed to show the effect of each medium composition and their interactions on the production of mycelial biomass and exo-polymer. The model estimated that, a maximal yield of mycelial biomass (17.61g/l) could be obtained when the concentrations of glucose, KH2PO4, peptone were set at 45.2g/l, 2.97g/l, 6.58g/l, respectively; while a maximal exo-polymer yield (1.326g/l) could be achieved when setting concentrations of glucose, KH2PO4, peptone at 58.6g/l, 4.06g/l and 3.79g/l, respectively. These predicted values were also verified by validation experiments. Compared with the values obtained by other runs in the experimental design, the optimized medium resulted in a significant increase in the yields of mycelial biomass and exo-polymer. Maximum mycelial biomass yield of 22.50g/l was achieved in a 15-l fermenter using the optimized medium.

In this study, the metabolic flux distribution analysis of a new l-arginine (Arg) overproducing strain, Corynebacterium crenatum, was carried out under various oxygen supply conditions in order to explore the optimized oxygen supply profile. The metabolic flux analysis indicated that a relatively higher larginine production could be obtained under high oxygen supply (HOS) condition overall. However, during the late fermentation phases, a much more stable l-arginine production could be rather achieved under medium oxygen supply (MOS) condition. As a result, a two-stage oxygen supply strategy, which maintained HOS condition during early fermentation phase, and then step-wisely reduced agitation to keep a stable, smooth and moderate dissolve oxygen levels (DO) changing profile throughout the production phases, was proposed. With the proposed control strategy, the final l-arginine concentration of the batch fermentationwas largely increased and reached to a high level of 36.6 g L−1, whichwas 16% and 51% higher than those obtained under the HOS and MOS conditions. The two-stage oxygen supply strategy could also accelerate glucose consumption rate and thus shorten fermentation time under the same batch initial fermentation condition. The relevant metabolic flux analysis verified the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Abstract In this work, a 22 factorial design was employed combining with response surface methodology (RSM) to optimize the medium compositions for the production of alkaline β-mannanase by alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. N16-5 isolated previously from sediment of Wudunur Soda Lake in Inner Mongolia, China. The central composite design (CCD) used for the analysis of treatment combinations showed that a second-order polynomial regression model was in good agreement with experimental results, with R2=0.9829 (P<0.05). The maximum activity was obtained at NaCl concentration (84.4g l−1) and sodium glutamate (3.11g l−1) and a high medium pH around 10.0. Under such conditions, the activity of alkaline β-mannanase achieved 310.1U/ml in the scale of 5-l fermenter, which was increased nearly twice compared with the original. Through optimization, the substrates shifted from the expensive substrates, such as locust bean gum and peptone, to the inexpensive ones such as konjac powder, soymeal, and sodium glutamate. The experiment results also suggested that the environmental conditions of high salinity and high alkalinity, as well as the inducer substrates, play very important roles in the production of the alkaline β-mannanase by alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. N16-5.

Praziquantel is an anti-schistosoma drug, its wastewater contains numerous cyanide and other colloid pollutant. A novel integrated treatment process was proposed in this study, i.e., using coagulation to eliminate colloid pollutant and using gas membrane absorption (GMA) to remove cyanide. The optimization of coagulation condition, determination of cyanide removal rate, elimination of membrane fouling, and overall evaluation of the integrated process for the treatment of praziquantel wastewater were investigated in this study. Good results were achieved: turbidity reduced from 700NTU to 10-40 NTU, 92% COD was removed, cyanide concentration dropped from 3500mg/L to below 0.5mg/L, recovery rate of cyanide reached to 98%, and operation cost could be entirely compensated from the gain of recovered cyanide. The results demonstrate that the novel integrated process offers a number of advantages over alkaline chlorination method in the treatment of praziquantel wastewater: cyanide can be reused rather than destroyed, no secondary pollutants are produced, the operation cost is low and the equipment etchingis avoided.