Abstract: Bacterial cellulose, produced by Acetobacter, is a novel biomaterial. But its application is restricted by its lowproduction. In this paper, we report the effects of various carbon and nitrogen sources and inorganic salts on the production ofbacterial cellulose, on the base of having screened the high cellulose-production strain, Acetobacter xylinum C2. The results showedthat sucrose, D-mannitol were the best carbon sources, peptone, yeast extract were the best nitrogen sources, and MgSO4•7H2Oand citrate were the best inorganic salts. The best fermentation medium for the strain is sucrose 7%, peptone 1.1%, yeast extract0.7%, MgSO4•7H2O 0.2%and citrate 0.1%. The yield of bacterial cellulose was up to 9.5g/L when fermented in the mediumreported in this paper.

Key words: bacterial cellulose, Acetobacter xylinum, fermentation medium