Abstract5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is considered to be an important building block for biorefineries and has a high potential for the production of chemicals and fuels. Production of HMF from glucose was studied using phosphoric acid as catalyst, in a water:acetone system with volume ratio of 1:2 and NaCl. An experimental design was applied to examine the influence of temperature, time and concentration of catalyst on the HMF yield. HMF yields of more than 50 % were obtained when using 200 ºC, 8.4 min and 0.8% of catalyst. The temperature is the main factor influencing the HMF yield.

The production of ethanol from sorghum grains was investigated in the present work. Initially, starch enzymatic hydrolysis was investigated using commercial α-amylase and glucoamylase, considering particle size, solid:liquid ratio and enzyme load as variables. The hydrolysate, in the best conditions (73 U of α-amylase/g grain and 1150 U glucoamylase/g grain), contained glucose at a concentration of approximately 250 g/L, which was fermented to produce ethanol in a bioreactor in batch mode. Using an industrial strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the maximum ethanol concentration produced was roughly 106 g.L-1 in 24 h of fermentation, resulting in a volumetric productivity of 4.4 g.L-1.h-1 and a product yield based on the substrate consumed (0.499 g.g-1) close to the theoretical.

Aromas and fragrances can be obtained through the microbial oxidation of monoterpenes. Many microorganisms can be used to carry out extremely specific conversions using substrates of low commercial value. However, for many species, these substrates are highly toxic, consequently inhibiting their metabolism. In this work, the conversion ability of Aspergillus niger IOC-3913 for terpenic compounds was examined. This species was preselected because of its high resistance to toxic monoterpenic substrates. Though it has been grown in media containing R-limonene (one of the cheapest monoterpenic hydrocarbons, which is widely available on the market), the species has not shown the ability to metabolize it, since biotransformation products were not detected in high resolution gas chromatography analyses. For this reason, other monoterpenes (alpha-pinene, beta-pinene and camphor) were used as substrates. These compounds were shown to be metabolized by the selected strain, producing oxidized compounds. Four reaction systems were used: a) biotransformation in a liquid medium with cells in growth b) with pre-grown cultures c) with cells immobilized in a synthetic polymer network and d) in a solid medium to which the substrate was added via the gas phase. The main biotransformation products were found in all the reaction systems, although the adoption of previously cultivated cells seemed to favor biotransformation. Cell immobilization seemed to be a feasible strategy for alleviating the toxic effect of the substrate. Through mass spectrometry it was possible to identify verbenone and alpha-terpineol as the biotransformation products of alpha-pinene and beta-pinene, respectively. The structures of the other oxidation products are described.

S. parvulus was selected from three species of Streptomyces that produce actinomycins, as it has the greatest antibiotic activity (152 mg/L) and produces only actinomycin-D. Aiming at improving the antibiotic production in shaken flasks, the substitution of glucose by fructose in concentrations of 20, 30 and 40 g/L was investigated. In all cases this replacement led to an increase in the antibiotic production, reaching a maximum concentration of 635 mg/L for an initial fructose concentration of 30 g/L. In experiments conducted in a bioreactor at different degrees of aeration (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 vvm) and stirring speeds (300 and 500 rpm), it was found that the greatest antibiotic production (1530 mg/L) occurred with a aeration of 1.5 vvm and a stirring speed of 500 rpm. The fermented medium showed the rheological behavior of a pseudoplastic fluid.

The potential production of rhamnolipid-type biosurfactants is assessed based on the development of a fermentative process with a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA1, which was isolated from oil production wastewater in the Northeast of Brazil. These production of molecules using different carbon (n-hexadecane, paraffinic oil, glycerol and babassu oil) and nitrogen sources (NaNO3, (NH4)2SO4 and CH4N2O) was studied. The best results were obtained when using glycerol as substrate. A C/N ratio of 60/1 and use of sodium nitrate as nitrogen source resulted in higher production of the rhamnolipid, expressed by rhamnose (3.16 g/L) and by the yield in relation to biomass (Yp/x = 0.70 g/g). Additionally, physical-chemical characteristics of the spent broth with and without cells were studied, providing a low critical micelle concentration of 19 mg/L and toxicity values of 13 and 13.8 mg/L using two test organisms, the micro crustacean Daphnia similis and the bacterium Vibrio fisheri (Microtox), respectively.