Optimization of Baker’s Yeast Production on Date Extract Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

This work aims to study the production of the biomass of S. cerevisiae on an optimized medium using date extract as the only carbon source in order to obtain a good yield of the biomass. The biomass production was carried out according to the central composite experimental design (CCD) as a response surface methodology using Minitab 16 software. Indeed, under optimal biomass production conditions, temperature (32.9 °C), pH (5.35) and the total reducing sugar extracted from dates (70.93 g/L), S. cerevisiae produced 40 g/L of their biomass in an Erlenmeyer after only 16 h of fermentation. The kinetic performance of the S. cerevisiae strain was investigated with three unstructured models i.e., Monod, Verhulst, and Tessier. The conformity of the experimental data fitted showed a good consistency with Monod and Tessier models with R² = 0.945 and 0.979, respectively. An excellent adequacy was noted in the case of the Verhulst model (R² = 0.981). The values of kinetic parameters (Ks, Xm, μm, p and q) calculated by the Excel software, confirmed that Monod and Verhulst were suitable models, in contrast, the Tessier model was inappropriately fitted with the experimental data due to the illogical value of Ks (-9.434). The profiles prediction of the biomass production with the Verhulst model, and that of the substrate consumption using Leudeking Piret model over time, demonstrated a good agreement between the simulation models and the experimental data.