Recovery of Xanthan Gum from Palm Oil-Based Fermentation Broth by Diafiltration with Flat Polysulfone Microfiltration (MF) Membrane

M. Sufian So’aib, J. Krishnan and M. V. P. S. Veluri

Abstract
Xanthan gum recovery from palm oil-based broth by diafiltration was carried out using flat microfiltration (MF) membrane. Optimization of process parameters such as transmembrane pressure (TMP), crossflow velocity (CFV), ionic strength (IS) and diafiltration factor (DF) was performed by Taguchi method using signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of larger-the-better criterion yielding the following optimum conditions: level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 2, respectively, corresponding to Xanthan recovery of 68 %. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed the significance of TMP on providing a driving force for Xanthan’s transmembrane transport (XTT), whereas little effect of DF indicated the evidence of sieving action by cake layer on XTT, which was also responsible for complete rejection of oil indicated by the absence of fatty acid component in permeate upon GC-MS analysis. On the contrary, better XTT was observed during MF operation on zero-oil broth due to absence of oily cake layer rendering CFV more effective.

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Keywords
xanthan recovery, xanthan’s transmembrane transport, Taguchi method