Plackett-Burman Design and Response Surface Optimization of Medium Trace Nutrients for Glycolipopeptide Biosurfactant Production

A glycolipopeptide biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain IKW1 reduced the surface tension of fermentation broth from 71.31 to 24.62 dynes/cm at a critical micelle concentration of 20.80 mg/L. The compound proved suitable for applications in emulsion stabilization in food, as well as in cosmetic and pharmaceutical formulations. In the present study, Plackett-Burman design (PBD) and response surface method (RSM) were employed to screen and optimize concentrations of trace nutrients in the fermentation medium, to increase surfactant yield. The PBD selected 5 out of the 12 screened significant trace nutrients. The RSM, on the other hand, resulted in the production of 84.44 g glycolipopeptide/L in the optimized medium containing 1.25 mg/L nickel, 0.125 mg/L zinc, 0.075 mg/L iron, 0.0104 mg/L boron, and 0.025 mg/L copper. Significant second-order quadratic models for biomass (P