Mandarin essential oil as an antimicrobial in ethanolic fermentation: Effects on Limosilactobacillus fermentum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The antibacterial activity of citrus essential oils (EOs) in the context of combating Limosilactobacillus fermentum, one of the most important bacterial contaminants in the bioethanol production industry, has never been explored previously. Industrial processes usually utilize sulfuric acid for cell treatment to decrease bacterial contamination. However, due to the hazardous nature of sulfuric acid, an alternative to it is highly desirable. Therefore, in the present study, the efficacy of Fremont IAC 543 mandarin EO against a strain of L. fermentum (ATCC^® 9338?) was evaluated under proliferative/nonproliferative conditions, in both pure culture and co-culture with an industrial strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mandarin EO exhibited higher effectiveness against L. fermentum compared to that against S. cerevisiae under nonproliferative conditions (added to water rather than to culture medium). At the concentration of 0·05%, the EO was as effective as the acid solution with pH 2·0 in reducing the count of L. fermentum almost 5 log CFU ml^–1 cycles, while the concentration of 0·1% led to the complete loss of bacterial culturability. When L. fermentum was co-cultured with S. cerevisiae, the efficacy of the EO against the bacterial strain was reduced. However, despite this reduced efficacy in co-culture, mandarin EO may be considered effective in combating L. fermentum and could be applied in processes where this bacterium proves to be unfavourable and does not interact with S. cerevisiae.