The objective of the present work was to study the variation on the sorbitol production in relation to the concentration of sugars, (metabolizable or not) and the cultivation time. A full factorial design was used considering the factors such as sucrose and maltose concentration and cultivation time. The addition of sugars caused increases on the sorbitol production up to the concentration of 300g/L however, decreases on the sorbitol production were observed when the concentration reached values above this. Increasing the time of fermentation was statistically significant to sorbitol production, however, little increase the production was noticed after 36h.
Zymomonas mobilis; sorbitol; high osmotic stress; maltose
