PRODUCTION OF CALCIUM GLUCONATE BY ASPERGILLUS NIGER GCU-1

Abstract

Calcium gluconate was produced in shake flasks and scale up investigations in 7.5L New Brunswick Scientific glass fermentor with a working volume of 5Lby locally isolated strain of Aspergillusniger GCU-1 were also carried out. The glucose salt-CaCO3 medium was employed for fermentation. The culture conditions using 25ml cotton wool plugged conical flasks were period of
incubation (0-96hrs),the concentration of glucose (5.0-125g/l) and the concentration of (NH4)2HPO4 (0.00-4.0g/l). The period of incubation was optimized at 48 hrs after inculation. The glucose concentration and the concentration of (NH4)2HPO4were also optimized to 125g/l and 0.4g/l, respectively. Scale up studies in the fermentor reached maximum 48 hrs after the addition of 24hrs old vegetative inoculum. The reuse of fungal mycelium for calcium gluconate fermentation was also investigated. The results were encouraging up to third generation as its further use resulted in the reduced consumption of glucose. A completely randomized design was used for the parameters with three replicates. The data was analyzed by COSTAT V.63: statistical software (Cohort software, Berkely, California) and Duncan’ New Multiple Range.As theoretical yield of calcium gluconate is more than 100% so the development of this technology would be highly feasible.