Journal of Bioprocessing & Biotechniques

Immobilization of Gluconobacter oxydans by Entrapment in Porous Chitosan Sponge

Abstract

Cunxun Wang, Kefeng Ni, Xu Zhou, Dongzhi Wei and Yuhong Ren

The porous chitosan sponge was prepared using NaHCO₃ as the porogen and used to immobilize Gluconobacter oxydans. Under the optimum conditions, the activity recovery of the immobilized cells reached 92%. The morphology characterization of the immobilized cells revealed that the cells were attached to the surface of the pores (100-400μm) which were well distributed in the chitosan sponge. The valuation of cell activity showed that the immobilized cells displayed enhanced pH and thermal stability compared to free cells. Furthermore, the immobilized cells retained 74% of its origin activity after 12 repeated reaction cycles separated by filtration.