Effect of Glucose Concentration on the Production of Erythritol by Trichosporon sp.

The effect of glucose concentration on the production of erythritol by Trichosporon sp. was mainly studied. The specific growth rate and production rate of erythritol gave the highest values of $0.23 h^{-1}\; and\; 4.2 g/\ell/h,\; respectively,\; on\; 100 g \; glucose/\ell$ of medium. The conversion yield of erythritol during the exponential phase and the stationary phase was constantly maintained at 19% and 51 %, respectively, while the glucose concentration in the medium varied from 100 g/$\ell$ to 400 g/$\ell$. The maximum overall erythritol conversion yield of 47% was obtained when the glucose concentration in the medium was 400 g/$\ell$. It corresponded to a 74% increase compared with the 100 g/$\ell$ glucose medium. The diauxy growth of this microbe was also observed. It grew exponentially consuming glucose, then after the second lag phase, biomass slowly increased using glycerol and erythritol.