International Science Community Association Research Journal of Recent Sciences 2277 - 2502 2 ISC-2012 2013 February 2 A Study on Downstream Processing for the production of Pullulan by Aureobasidium pullulans-SB-01 from the Fermentation broth 16 19 EN Ahirwar J.R. 1 Department of Botany, Govt. College Niwari, District-Tikamgarh, M.P. INDIA Erhabor J.O. 1 Departement of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, University of Benin, P.M.B 1154, Benin City, NIGERIA Idu M. 2 Benson Idahosa University, PMB, 110, Benin City, NIGERIA Udo F.O. 3 Mehta Kavit 1 Mehsana Urban Institute of Sciences, Ganpat University, Ganpat Vidyanagar, Kherwa, Dist. Mehsana, North Gujarat, INDIA Patel B.N. 2 M.G. Science Institute, Navrangpura, Ahmadabad, INDIA Jain B.K. 3 Mishra Bishwambhar 1 Instrumental and Food Analysis Laboratory, School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, INDIA Suneetha Vuppu 2 > Research Paper 2012 10 18 2013 February 2 Pullulan, which is made up of linear α-D-glucan maltotriose and maltotetrose repeating units interconnected by α (1→6) and α (1→4) linkages, is a water-soluble homopolysaccharide produced extracellularly by Aureobasidium pullulans. Although the production of this bio-polymer is commercially going on still the establishment of the cost effective downstream processing has not attained up to the mark. It is necessary to harvest cells, remove the melanin pigments co-produced during its fermentation followed by its precipitation, concentration and drying. The present work reports on some of these aspects. Centrifugation of the fermentation broth at 8,000 rpm for 20 min gave cell pellets that were discarded and a greenish black supernatant containing melanin pigment which was subjected to the heat treatment at 80°C for 30 min in order to remove the protein (mainly Pullulanase) in the fermentation broth. The supernatant was demelanized by with hydrogen peroxide and activated charcoal, solvent-solvent blends, or by solvent-salt combinations in which hydrogen peroxide treatment shows better result for the removal of melanin pigments. For the precipitation of the exopolysachride the cold Isopropanol was used followed by its drying process at 60°C for 40 min. This methodology produced high purity pullulan that was comparable in colour and texture to the commercial samples which was characterized by the HPLC and FT-IR analysis. Copyright@ International Science Community Association