(150c) Culture Strategy to Increase Bacterial Cellulose Productivity.

Cellulose is a biomaterial widely used in the paper, textile, food, and pharmaceutical industries, among other applications. Most of the cellulose used worldwide is from plant origin, where the production process utilizes chemicals that are detrimental to the environment and involve the use of vast tracts of land. On the other hand, bacterial cellulose (BC) has the advantage of been environmentally friendly, be produced under controlled conditions in a reduced space. BC possesses unique physicochemical properties compared to plant cellulose, such as higher purity, is lignin-, hemicellulose- and pectin-free, is composed by smaller fibers which translates in better physical characteristics such as higher water absorption capability and mechanical resistance, among others. One of the main challenges to produce BC commercially is to do it in a cost-effective manner, where one of the important aspects is the long culture time required to produce it in static conditions (14 days). Therefore, in the present work we will show a new culture strategy to decrease culture time in about 60% using a Komagataeibacter europaeus strain under static conditions. BC production and final product characterization using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and X-ray Diffraction (DRX) will be showed.