Microbial communities of activated sludge: A potential contribution to the production of vitamin B12

¹ ITMO University, Kronverksky Prospekt, 49, lit. A, 197101 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
² South Ural State University (National Research University), 76 Lenina Avenue, 454080 Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: s.a.goryacheva@itmo.ru

Abstract

The chemical synthesis of vitamin B12, an important nutrient for living organisms, is complex due to the asymmetric structure of the vitamin molecule. This opens up significant prospects for the development of biotechnological approaches to cyanocobalamin synthesis, which forms the basis of this work. The study examines the potential of activated sludge generated during wastewater treatment as a source of vitamin B12 products for the production of feed concentrates. As a nutrient medium, the possibility of using waste from alcohol processing production – stillage, is being considered. Together, this can make it possible to ensure the economic viability, sustainability and feasibility of biosynthesis of feed vitamin B12 on an industrial scale. The cultivation process was monitored by monitoring a set of indicators, including the pH of the medium, the amount of dry matter, dihydrogenase activity, weight gain and B12 content. The analysis of the data highlights the importance of understanding the complexity of the relationship between individual cultivation parameters to optimize vitamin B12 production processes. In general, the achieved level of vitamin B12 synthesis was 430 mcg/l, which allows to consider active sludge and distillery stillage as potentially promising components of the vitamin B12 biosynthesis process.