A STANDARD INOCULUM FOR CITRIC ACID PRODUCTION IN SUBMERGED CULTURE

Abstract

A standard vegetative inoculum of Aspergillus niger has been developed for the submerged citric acid fermentation of sugar beet molasses. Increasing the ferrocyanide content and the pH of the seed mash, within limits, decreased the rate of development of the mold pellets whereas increasing the spore inoculum increased the rate of development. Using this "standard" inoculum, an average yield of 8.9% anhydrous citric acid (68.5% conversion of available sugar) was obtained in 116 hr. The standard deviation between runs was 4.5% of the mean citric acid yield. An abrupt breakdown of the fermentation process decreased the yield by 50% and increased the standard deviation to 28.5% of the mean yield. The breakdown was overcome by changing the sporulation medium from a chemically-defined synthetic type to a nutritionally-richer type. Results indicate that serial transfer on a synthetic medium weakened the culture and made the fermentation unstable.