Abstract
Lovastatin is a potent drug for lowering the blood cholesterol. It is a competitive inhibitor of 3-hyroxy3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, which is a key enzyme in the cholesterol production pathway. Lovastatin increases the good cholesterol or high-density lipoproteins to prevent the formation of plaque inside the blood vessels. This study aims to develop a process model of lovastatin production, produced by Monascus purpureus under solid-state fermentation using oil palm frond. SuperPro Design V9.5 software was used to develop and simulate the process model. Three parameters which are initial moisture content, composition of peptone and potassium, were varied to investigate their effects on lovastatin production. The optimum condition simulated using the process model at pH 7 with 60% initial moisture content, 0.0075 kg/hr of potassium, and 0.0075 kg/hr of peptone was able to produce 0.0288 kg/kg of lovastatin. The simulated results show good agreement with experimental work, with low percentage error of 5.77%, and provide a good approximation on the production of lovastatin under various process operating conditions.
Highlights
Hypercholesterolemia is an abnormally high cholesterol level in the blood that frequently leads to cardiovascular problems
The optimum conditions to maximize the production of lovastatin derived from oil palm frond (OPF) by monascus purpureus using ssf method was identified at a laboratory scale by Daud et al [1]
This study aims to develop a process model of lovastatin production in solid-state fermentation (SSF) by OPF using superpro designer software (SPD)
Summary
Hypercholesterolemia is an abnormally high cholesterol level in the blood that frequently leads to cardiovascular problems. The optimum conditions to maximize the production of lovastatin derived from oil palm frond (OPF) by monascus purpureus using ssf method was identified at a laboratory scale by Daud et al [1]. This experimental work successfully proves the capability of OPF to be used as a substrate of lovastatin production and has potential for large scale production. The development of a pilot plant is a challenging task due to time and resource constraints This challenging task can be facilitated by using simulation tools to systemically design and optimize the process for large scale production. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to investigate the effect of potassium and peptone composition as well as the initial moisture content on the lovastatin yield
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
