{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T05:06:18Z","timestamp":1789103178979,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788912000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001793","name":"Queensland University of Technology","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001793","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03pnv4752","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Fungi","JoF"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigated the potential of Bundaberg rum stillage as a low-cost medium for cultivating two food-related filamentous fungi: Aspergillus oryzae and Rhizopus oligosporus. Traditional shake-flasks and a novel static-liquid culture fermentation approach were used to assess biomass and L-carnitine synthesis. Stillage was assessed to determine the optimal concentration for use, and this was applied throughout. Growth was benchmarked against a complex synthetic medium containing glucose, yeast extract and malt extract. The highest biomass yields were obtained in the stillage supplemented with yeast extract, Aspergillus oryzae static culture (5.84 g\/L), while R. oligosporus favoured agitated culture (4.82 g\/L). Aspergillus oryzae produced the highest yield of L-carnitine (3.71 mg\/g) in the stillage supplemented with ammonium in an agitated culture, while R. oligosporus synthesised 3.39 mg\/g of L-carnitine under an agitated culture in the unsupplemented stillage. Volumetric yields of L-carnitine underscored the importance of aeration and nitrogen availability for metabolite synthesis, where both A. oryzae (15.8 mg\/L) and R. oligosporus (12.7 mg\/L) performed best in agitated ammonium-supplemented stillage. These findings demonstrate that the optimal cultivation strategy is product-specific, with static cultivation and yeast extract supplementation favouring fungal biomass production, while better aeration and an ammonium supplement improved L-carnitine yield. The results provide a basis for developing tailored bioprocesses for the commercial valorisation of rum stillage, enabling the sustainable production of fungal biomass and value-added metabolites while supporting circular bioeconomy approaches for distillery wastewater management.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jof12090675","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T15:01:56Z","timestamp":1788966116000},"page":"675","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Comparison of Static and Shake-Flask Cultures for Filamentous Fungal Biomass and L-Carnitine Production in Rum Stillage"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8916-1772","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hashini J.","family":"Wahalathanthrige","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"},{"name":"School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aline","family":"D. O. Campos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"},{"name":"School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhanying","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"},{"name":"School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2688-9533","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"P. James","family":"Strong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"},{"name":"School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"},{"name":"New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 11 Titokorangi Drive, Rotorua 3010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Leichtweis, M.G., Oliveira, M.B.P.P., Ferreira, I.C.F.R., Pereira, C., and Barros, L. (2021). Sustainable Recovery of Preservative and Bioactive Compounds from Food Industry Bioresidues. 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