Chapter 10 - Strategies to Improve Solid-State Fermentation Technology

Abstract

Cellulases are multienzyme complex proteins that hydrolyze the glyosidic linkages of cellulose and depolymerize them into fermentable sugars. Three crucial enzymes of cellulases, namely endoglucanase, exoglucanase, and β-glucosidase, act on cellulose in a consecutive manner. The production of microbial cellulases using solid-state fermentation (SSF) has emerged in recent times for prominent applications in the food, textile, animal feed, detergent, paper, and petroleum industries. From laboratory scale to large scale, organisms, lignocellulosic substrates, process optimization, bioreactors, process monitoring, contamination, and downstream processing are the chiefly involved parameters in SSF processes. Conventional cellulase SSF production is challenging for meeting the demands of industry due to the inadequate knowledge of these factors and lack of precise strategy. This chapter mainly focuses the various strategies based on these factors to improve cellulase production efficiency using SSF. Various complications can be also evaded by using these strategies to enhance the production of cellulases using specific organisms.