Carbohydrate to Itaconic Acid Conversion by Aspergillus terreus and the Evaluation of Process Monitoring Based on the Measurement of CO2

In this work, itaconic acid (IA) was produced biotechnologically by Aspergillus terreus fungal strain from glucose. The performance of the batch fermentation was kinetically assessed and the maximal IA production potential, maximal production rate and lag-phase time were determined as 28.1 g/L, 3.83 g/L day and 1.52 days, respectively. In addition, the bioprocess was evaluated based on the most frequently used parameters, in particular IA titer (26.3 g/L), yield (0.22 g/g substrate) and productivity (0.1 g/L h), which were comparable to the already published literature. Furthermore, an on-line monitoring system was installed to the fermenter in order to measure the CO 2 content of the bioreactor off-gas. Actually, it was indicated by the results that the CO 2 production could have a linear-like relationship with the quantity of fungal biomass. Hence, the data collected in such a way may have the potential to establish an alternative methodology for the monitoring of biomass growth in the course of the biological transformation taking place. Graphic Abstract