Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have identified a bacterium that can convert agricultural waste into industrial enzymes.
Bacillus sp PM 06 that researchers Sathyanarayana N. Gummadi, faculty in Biotechnology Department, and Rekha Rajesh, a research scholar, isolated could hydrolyse very low-cost waste without pretreatment.
There is an interest world over to use agricultural waste to produce industrial enzymes and second-generation ethanol as an alternative fuel source.
Certain enzymes such as alpha-amylase and cellulase are in high demand in textiles, paper, detergent and pharmaceutical industries.
IIT researchers studied wheat bran; sago waste and rice bran residues that have a high potential to produce industrial enzymes. However, the complex structure of these residues make it difficult to hydrolyse the enzymes, requiring expensive pretreatment process. They isolated a novel strain from sugarcane press mud.
Their study works on the principles of biomass-based bio refineries, which offer potential benefits for energy and environmental sustainability.
The researchers’ findings have been published in peer-reviewed journal Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery.
Mr. Sathyanarayana said the organism that they had isolated had a fermentation capacity to hydrolyse very low-cost lignocellulosic wastes without pretreatment thus reducing the cost of bioprocess.
They demonstrated simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of different agro residues. The researchers found that wheat bran was the most effective followed by sago waste and rice bran.
