Novel oxygenation for lipopeptide production from Bacillus sp. GB16

A novel integrated method for increasing dissolved oxygen concentration in culture media has been developed. It involves adding hydrogen peroxide to the medium, which is then decomposed to oxygen and water by catalase and adding vegetable oil to the medium as antifoam agent and oxygen vector. A new apparatus for automated addition of hydrogen peroxide to the bioreactor to keep the dissolved oxygen concentration constant over the range $10-100%\;{\pm}\;5%$ was tested. A significant increase (over threefold) of cultivation time was obtained while the dissolved oxygen concentration remained stable ($30%\;{\pm}\;5%$). Therefore, use of corn oil mixed with Ca-stearate as oxygen vector and antifoam and hydrogen peroxide as oxygen source to control excessive foam that was generated by microorganism biosurfactant, GB16-BS produced at Bacillus sp. GB16 cultivation was appropriate for stable cultivation.