From flasks to single used bioreactor: Scale-up of solid state fermentation process for metabolites and conidia production by Trichoderma asperellum

Currently, the increasing demand of biopesticides production to replace chemical pesticides which are excessively used has made solid state fermentation (SSF) technology the need of the hour. In spite of advantages, true potential of SSF process has not been fully realized at industrial scale. A fermentation process for 6-pentyl-a-pyrone (6 PP), conidia, and lytic enzymes (cellulases, lipase, amylase) production by Trichoderma asperellum TF1 was scaled-up from 250 mL flasks and glass Raimbault column packed with 20 g of solid substrates (dry weight) to 5 Kg of solid substrate by using a new plastic single used bioreactor. For column and single used bioreactor, the fermentation was done with the application of humid air during all the process however flasks are not hermetically closed that some oxygen could flow by diffusion. T. asperellum growth was investigated using a mixture of vine shoots, jatropha cake, olive pomace and olive oil as substrate in all systems in parallel at 25 °C during 7 days. Overall, the conditions applied on the single used bioreactor resulted in the optimum 6-PP production (7.36 ± 0.37 mg g DM^-1), lipases (38.73 ± 0.21U/g DM), amylases (15.22 ± 0.13 U/g DM), and conidia production (8.55 ± 0.04 × 10⁹ conidia/g DM).