Effect of Glucose as Cosubstrate on 1,3-Propanediol Fermentation by Klebsiella pneumoniae

The effect of glucose as cosubstrate for the seed culture and fermentation of 1,3-propanediol by Klebsiella pneumoniae with glycerol as substrate was investigated. The results showed that the mixed substrate of glycerol and glucose for the seed culture could shorten the seed culture period. When adding glucose as cosubstrate, the productivity and yield of 1,3-propanediol were increased greatly in batch and fed-batch fermentation, but different glucose feed strategies could lead to different results. Compared with the 1,3-propanediol fed-batch fermentation production with glycerol as the only substrate, the 1,3-propanediol concentration, productivity and yield increased by 41.2%, 38.6% and 8.3% respectively when 5 g/L glucose was added to the initial fermentation media and a mixture of glycerol and glucose was fed during 4~40 h.