Abstract
Due to its very low moisture content, the solid waste from the two-phase olive oil extraction process (dry olive mill residue,
DOR) can be easily stored and used as a readily available basal liquid culture medium via its reconstitution with water. Five
white-rot fungi (namely Phanerochaete chrysosporium NRRL 6361, Lentinus tigrinus CBS 577.79, Pleurotus pulmonarius CBS
664.97, Phlebia radiata DABAC 9 and Botryosphaeria rhodina DABAC P82), previously selected in a screening program, were
compared for their ability to grow and to produce laccase on non-supplemented aqueous extracts of the dry olive mill residue
(ADOR). The most effective strains, namely L. tigrinus and P. radiata, grown in a 3-l bubble-column reactor on 25% (w/v)
ADOR, produced 6602 and 6001 nkatal l-1 with respective mean volumetric productivities (MVP) of 68 and 83 nkatal l-1 h-1 and
production yields of 375 and 418 nkatal g-1 COD consumed, respectively. These results show that non-supplemented ADOR
might constitute the basis of a growth medium allowing promising productions of laccase amenable to further enzyme
optimization.