Influence of aeration, agitation and process duration on fungal inulinase production from paneer whey in a stirred tank reactor

Abstract

In present study, inulinase production was carried out from paneer whey using Penicillium oxalicum BGPUP-4 in a stirred tank bioreactor. In preliminary experimentation in shake-flask fermentations, maximum (38.58 IU/mL) inulinase production was obtained from clarified paneer whey. Therefore, it was selected for inulinase production at bioreactor level. Probabilistic tool was used to optimise process variables for inulinase production in bioreactor. At optimal combination of process variables (agitation 180 rpm, aeration 0.98 vvm and fermentation time 5 days), maximum inulinase production obtained in stirred tank reactor was 80.2 IU/mL. Approximately 2-fold increase in inulinase production was obtained in comparison to shake-flask fermentations. A statistical evaluation of designed model predicted it significant. The findings of the present study show paneer whey as cost-effective substrate for the production of inulinase by P. oxalicum BGPUP-4 in a stirred tank reactor. Literature survey reveals, this is first report on inulinase production from paneer whey based medium.