Production of Surfactin with Bacillus subtilis in a Fermentation Process with Integrated Foam Fractionation

摘要

The production of biosurfactants has at-tracted significant attention over the past few years due to their manifold ben-efits, e.g., the production based on re-newable resources and their biodegrad-ability. Surfactin is one of the most intensely studied biosurfactants since its discovery in 1968. The lipopeptide is constituted of a seven-amino-acid pep-tide-ring linked to a β-hydroxy fatty acid consisting of 13 to 15 carbon atoms. Surfactin is produced by Bacillus subtilis, a common Gram-positive soil bacterium, which is already used in several indus-trial processes for the production of en-zymes and also for the preparation of natto, a traditional Japanese dish made of fermented soybeans.