Biowaste as a Resource for Bioproduct Development

Abstract

Environmental pollution is a major concern for many countries due to increasing amounts of solid waste production, the release of dangerous gases into the atmosphere during fossil fuel combustion, and the lack of effective waste management policies. A major component of solid waste is waste paper with cellulose, a glucose polymer as the major building block. Waste paper can be recycled for a limited number of times before the quality of fibers deteriorate to such an extent that it can’t be used anymore in the paper making process. When reaching this stage used paper becomes part of solid waste and is described as waste paper that is mostly dumped or burnt, both contributing towards environmental pollution with the loss of a major resource of renewable energy as the cellulose component is also destroyed. Cellulase enzymes have the ability to hydrolyze cellulose into glucose and the cellulase from Penicillium funiculosun and Trichoderma viride were used to bioconvert the cellulose component of news paper, foolscap paper, filter paper and office paper into fermentable sugars. Cellulase enzymes are complex systems and their multi-component nature has been verified by separating it into various components by means of DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column chromatography. Glucose released during treatment of the different paper materials with cellulase were identified and quantified by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).