Abstract—In the light of limitation arising from the expensive nature of the production of 2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BD) from competitive petrochemical products and treatment of cheese whey based on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) posed to the environment. The effect of aerated condition, pH, initial concentration of the cheese whey was studied with an aim to provide insight into optimal conditions for maximum bioremediation as an attractive alternative for cheese whey treatment and production of 2,3-BD using Klebsiella pneumonia (KP) at room temperature of 28⁰C for 96 h and kinetics parameters were evaluated from the experimental result. Based on the result of the proximate analysis, lactose content in 40g/l of cheese whey produced 61.3 percent of 2,3-BD at an optimum pH value of 6.40 and 36.6 percent of 2,3-BD at an optimum pH value of 6.46 in an air-stirred batch reactor and unstirred batch reactor respectively while lactose content in 20g/l of cheese whey produced 60.9 percent 2,3-BD at an optimum pH value of 5.92 and 29.2 percent of 2,3-BD at an optimum pH value of 6.14 in an air-stirred batch reactor and unstirred batch reactor respectively. The result shows that Klebsiella pneumonia has good bioremediation potential and production of 2,3-BD in air-stirred batch reactor compared to unstirred batch reactor at room temperature of 280C under optimum pH value and initial concentration of lactose content in cheese whey.

Index Terms—Bioremediation, Cheese whey, Klebsiella pneumonia, Monod’s model and Malthus correlation.

T. O. Azeez is with Biomedical Technology Department, School of Health Technology, Federal University of Technology, P. M. B. 1526, Owerri, Nigeria. (Phone No.: +234(0)8035996137; e-mail: thaophic@yahoo.com)

Cite: Azeez Taofik Oladimeji, "Kinetics of Microbial Production of 2, 3-Butanediol from Cheese Whey Using Klebsiella pneumonia," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 177-183, 2011.