Production and characterization of bacterial cellulose produced from agricultural by-product by Gluconacetobacter strains

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is well known as natural biomaterial having a broad range of application. However, the high cost production in term of raw materials and lower yield has limited the applications. In this study, isolation and characterization the newly isolates bacteria from the fermented products was carried out by using non-detoxified crude glycerol as an alternative medium. Based on 16S rRNA, Gluconaceter xylinus BNKC19 was isolated and identified with the highest BC production of 12.31 g/l of dried weight BC from 1% (w/v) of crude glycerol. Increasing of crude glycerol led to decreased production of BC. The results indicated that the impurities in crude glycerol might affect the cell activity. The optimal BC production was found at acidic pH and yeast extract was favorable nitrogen source. Moreover, addition of pineapple peel extract (PPE) into crude glycerol without any supplementation could improve BC production. The structural and morphological properties analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that the crystallinity were slightly higher than that of produced from the commercial sugars. Whereas the cellulose I polymorph showed a lower content of cellulose I which might be consistent with a slightly larger microfibril ribbons of BC from the alternative media containing crude glycerol.