Investigation of Static-Culture Exo-Inulinase Synthesis Unleashed by Candida tropicalis NRRL-Y-1552 Using Blackstrap Sugarcane Molasses

Abstract

Inulinases (β-fructanohydrolases) are hydrolyzing enzymes with an extensive range of industrial applications such as synthesis of fructose syrup, bioethanol, and certain chemicals, such as citric acid, lactic acid. In this work, extracellular inulinase was produced from Candida tropicalis NRRL-Y-1552 using a stationary culture technique (ScT) with molasses as the basal fermentation medium. The highest enzyme production (15.08 U/mL) was obtained at 30 °C, pH 4.5, 100 mL molasses, and 48 h incubation. Initially the enzyme activity was not encouraging (6.3 U/mL) but after optimizations, the enzyme production significantly increased (20.4 U/mL, P ≤ 0.05). The enzyme yield was 69.1%. The size and age of inoculum (1.5 mL, 12 h old) was optimized for maximum production of enzyme. The exo-inulinase production data was subjected to artificial neutral network (ANN) to create a reliable association between the predicted and experimental outcomes. Decision tree techniques were used to forecast the validation of the model. The model’s performance was significantly improved by the ANN’s linear coefficient correlation value. The significance of the study lies in investigating ANN model of static-culture exo-inulinase synthesis enabled by C tropicalis NRRL-Y-1552 using blackstrap sugarcane molasses, making the process ecofriendly and economically feasible for scale up studies.