Abstract
Lactic acid (LA) is the most widely used multifunctional organic acid and approximately 50% of it is produced by biotechnological process. Immobilizing microbial cells not only improves cell retention but also protects cells from harsh environmental conditions during LA production. The objectives of this research were therefore to develop a simple method to encapsulate (immobilize) Lactobacillus reuteri for the continuous production of LA and to evaluate LA production in three different types of media using free and immobilized L. reuteri.Five strains of L. reuteri grown in lactobacillusMRS broth at 37°C for 24 h were washed in peptone water and suspended in 2% sodium alginate solution. Encapsulation of cells was performed by dripping the mixture of sodium alginate and culture into ice-cold (2°C) 0.4 M calcium chloride solution using a separator funnel. The beads were then subjected to each of 500 ml MRS, modified MRS and whey-based broth and then incubated at 37°C for 12 h. Samples were withdrawn at 2-hour intervals during incubation period and analyzed for LA as represented in pH. Results show that the developed method is a rapid and simple microbial encapsulation procedure for the continuous production of LA. The efficacy of LA production as measured in pH was not significantly different in all tested media. At the end of fermentation process, pH of whey medium containing conventional (free) and encapsulated cells reached to 4.20 and 3.85, respectively. This indicates that higher amount of acid is yielded with encapsulated cells than free cells. In addition, immobilized cell strain MM2-3 produced the highest pH (3.5) while free cell strain SD2112 produced the lowest pH (4.05). Hence, results from this study suggest that we were able to develop a simple and rapid method for the encapsulation of L. reuteri.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Björck, L. and E. Hopkin. 1991. Significance of the indigenous antimicrobial agents of milk to the dairy industry. Int. Dairy Fed. 264, 2–19.
Champagne, P.C., and B.C. Cote. 1987. Cream fermentation by immobilized lactic bacteria. Biotechnol. Lett. 9, 329–332.
Chronopoulous, G., A. Bekatorou, E. Bezirtzoglou, A. Kaliafas, A.A. Koutinas, R. Marchant, and I.M. Banat. 2002. Lactic acid fermentation by Lactobacillus casei in free cell form and immobilized on gluten pellets. Biotechnol. Lett. 24, 1235–1236.
Elezi O., Y. Kourkoutas, A.A. Koutinas, M. Kanellaki, E. Bezirtzoglous, Y.A. Barnett, and P. Nigam P. 2003. Food additive lactic acid production by immobilized cells of Lactobacillus brevis on delignified cellulosic material. J. Agric. Food Chem. 51, 5285–5289.
Kyung, W.L., C.B. Seung, H.C. Woon, and W.K. Hyun. 2003. Structural observation of microencapsulated Lactobacillus acidophilusby optical and scanning electron microscopy. Food Sci. Biotechnol. 12, 14.
Lui, X., Y.K. Chung, S.T. Yang, and A.E. Yousef. 2005. Continuous nisin production in laboratoery media and whey permeate by immobilized Lactococcus lactis. Process Biochem. 13–24.
Newman, K.D. and M.W. McBurney. 2004. Poly (D, L lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres as biodegradable microcarriers for pluripotent stem cells. Biomaterials. 25, 5763–5771.
Scannell, A.G.M., C. Hill, R.P. Ross, S. Marx, W. Hartmeier, and E.K. Arendt. 2000. Continuous production of lacticin 3147 and nisin using cells immobilized in calcium alginate. J. Appl. Microbiol. 89, 574–576.
Swaisgood, H.E. 1982. Chemistry of milk proteins. In: P.F. Fox (Eds.). Developments in dairy chemistry.1, 1–60. Applied Science Publishers, New York. 1–60.
Wee, Y.J., J.N. Kim, J.S. Yun, D.H. Park, and H.W. Ryu. 2006. Pilot-scale lactic acid production via batch culturing of Lactobacillus sp. RKY2 using corn steep liquor as a nitrogen source. Food Technol. Biotechnol. 44, 293–298.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by funds allocated to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University through the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, Project No. NC.X-173-5-02-170-1. The authors also would like to express gratitude to Dr. C.S. Turner, Associate Dean for Research for her support and Dr. K.J. Gruber for his suggestions on this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ibrahim, S.A. et al. (2009). Rapid and Simple Method for the Encapsulation of Lactobacillus reuteri in the Production of Lactic Acid. In: Nzewi, E., et al. Proceedings of the 2007 National Conference on Environmental Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-88483-7_41
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-88483-7_41
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-88482-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-88483-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)