Production of lignin-modifying enzymes by Trametes ochracea on high-molecular weight fraction of olive mill wastewater, a byproduct of olive oil biorefinery

The high-molecular weight fraction of olive mill wastewater (HMW-OMW), a byproduct of olive oil biorefinery, was used at the reactor level as the basal medium for production of laccase and Mn-dependent peroxidase (MnP) by Trametes ochracea. Three reactor systems, namely stirred tank reactors equipped with either Rushton turbines or marine impeller and draft tube (STR and STR-MD, respectively) and an air-lift reactor (ALR) were compared for this purpose. Although inocula were supplied as intact pellets, in both STR-based systems fungal growth evolved rapidly into a dispersed form while the ALR enabled the maintenance of the pellet growth mode. STR was deemed to be the most promising system since it best supported the production MnP activity on the HMW-OMW- based medium and its performance in laccase production did not differ from that observed with the STR-MD. Among the stirring regimes considered (250, 400, 500 and 600 rpm), the best production in the STR was observed at 500 rpm and 1.0 vvm for both laccase (8850 +/- 270 IU L-1 on day 15) and MnP (17,027.4 +/- 87.2 IU L-1 on day 13). When the inocula were supplied to the STR in homogenized form, the MnP production peak (16,856 +/- 1070 IU L-1) was attained 8 days earlier than the previous condition and that of laccase was nearly doubled (14,967 +/- 907 IU L-1). When compared with literature data, T. ochracea MnP production and productivity on the HMW-OMW-based medium were the highest reported for a wild-type fungal strain.