CAROTENOID PRODUCTION BY Sporidiobolus pararoseus IN AGROINDUSTRIAL MEDIUM: OPTIMIZATION OF CULTURE CONDITIONS IN SHAKE FLASKS AND SCALE-UP IN A STIRRED TANK FERMENTER

The medium consisted of corn steep liquor and sugar cane molasses pretreated with sulfuric acid. In order to evaluate the effects of the variables, a central composite rotatable design was used. The highest values of total carotenoids (565 µg L-1), biomass (13.6 g L-1) and Yp/s (10.9 µg g-1) were obtained in Assay 13 at 27.5ºC, 150 rpm and pH=4, in Erlenmeyer flasks.

For the best conditions defined for carotenoid productivity and 1.2 vvm in the stirred tank fermenter, the maximum value was 1969.3 µg L-1 of total carotenoids. It was 3.5-fold higher than the value obtained when shake flasks were used.