Optimizing cellulase production of Penicillium waksmanii F10-2 with response surface methodology

Abstract

Cellulase is an enzyme complex which breaks down cellulose to ß-glucose. It has been used widely in commercial food processing, textile industry and laundry detergents. In this article, medium composition and fermentation conditions for

Penicillium waksmanii F10-2, an isolated cellulase production strain, are studied. Wheat straw and peptone are found to be the most promising and effective carbon and nitrogen sources for cellulase production by P. waksmanii F10-2. Response surface methodology (RSM) is employed to optimize the medium constituents (wheat straw, peptone and minerals) and fermentation conditions (pH, rev and temperature) for cellulase production. The predicted maximal cellulase activity is about 5.64 U/mL, which is achieved at the following condition: pH: 6.4, rev: 136.2 r/min, temperature: 26.5°C, fermentation condition: wheat straw 20.3 g/L, peptone 11.3 g/L, KH2PO4 2.7 g/L, NaCl 3.3 g/L, MgSO4.7H2O 0.2 g/L. Under the proposed optimized conditions, the model predicted a cellulase activity of 5.64 U/mL, which is very closely matching the experimental activity of 5.9 U/mL.