Static Culture Condition for Production of Bacterial Cellulose, Environment-Friendly Functional Material, by Acetic Acid Bacteria

Abstract Bacterial cellulose (BC) has played important role as new functional material for food industry and industrial products based on its unique properties. The interest in BC from static cultures has increased steadily in recent years because of its potential for use in medicine and cosmetics. In this study, we investigated culture condition for BC production by Acetobacter sp. F15 in static culture. The strain F15, which was isolated from decayed fruit, was selected on the basis of BC thickness. The optimal medium compositions for BC production were glucose 7%, soytone 12%, K 2 HPO 4 0.2%, NaH 2 PO 4 ㆍ 2H 2 O 0.2%, lactic acid 0.05% and ethanol 0.3%, respectively. The strain F15 was able to produce BC at 26 ℃ -36 ℃ with a maximum at 32 ℃ . BC production occurred at pH 4.5-8 with a maximum at pH 6.5. Under these conditions, a maximum BC thickness of 12.15 mm was achieved after 9 days of cultivation; this value was about 2.3-fold higher than the thickness in basic medium. Scanning electron micrographs showed that BC from the optimal medium was more compact than plant cellulose and was reticulated structure consisting of ultrafine cellulose fibrils. BC from the optimal medium was found to be of cellulose type I, the same as typical native cellulose.