Biotechnological Production of Xylitol from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches Hydrolysate

Abstract

This study evaluated the biomass and xylitol production using Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (OPEFB) hydrolysates. <em>Candida tropicalis</em> ATCC 13803, which produces xylitol, was cultivated in the synthetic media Yeast extract Peptone Xylose (YPX), Medium Minimum Xylose (MMX) and hemicellulosic Hydrolysates medium (HR). Biomass concentration was evaluated in the synthetic media to identify the best medium for the biomass production. Hemicellulosic hydrolysates were obtained by dilute acid hydrolysis of OPEFB. All fermentations were performed in 100 mL Erlenmeyer flasks containing 40 mL of medium with 20 g/L xylose, initial pH 5, 6, 119 rpm and 30°C for 72 h. During the fermentations the cellular concentration was determined spectrophotometrically by Optical Density (OD) at 620 nm and the kinetics parameters and xylitol production were evaluated. The best synthetic medium for biomass production was YPX with 2.52 g/L at 30 h. The xylitol yield and yield values for HR media were 0.41 g/g and 0.10 g/L.h, respectively.