Magic bacteria that turns agri waste into industrial enzymes
Magic bacteria that turns agri waste into industrial enzymes
Subject :Science
Section : India’s achievement
Context: ‘The use of non-food lignocellulosic biomass to produce industrially important enzymes and second-generation cellulosic ethanol as an alternative fuel.’
Concept: Generally, wood lignocellulosic biomass often refers to hardwood and softwood, whereas non-wood lignocellulosic biomass is denoted as agricultural residues, native plants and non-wood plant fibres such as sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass and cotton fibre.
Lignocellulolytic enzymes are biocatalysts involved in the breakdown of lignin and cellulosic materials into their components for further hydrolysis into useful products. Sometimes referred to as lignocellulases, they include hydrolytic enzymes that degrade recalcitrant lignocellulose, a component of plant biomass.
Why lignocellulosic biomass is important?
Lignocellulosic biomass is the most economical and highly renewable natural resource in the world. The development of renewable energy converted from lignocellulosic biomass as an alternative for fossil fuel is ultimately essential for the survival of the human race.
How does lignocellulosic biomass make ethanol?
The conventional process includes two main steps. First, lignocellulose must be pretreated in order to remove lignin and enhance the penetration of hydrolysis agents without chemically destruction of cellulose and hemicellulose. Second, the pretreated material is converted to bioethanol by hydrolysis and fermentation.
How is cellulosic biomass ethanol made?
Converting cellulosic biomass to biofuels such as ethanol essentially involves breaking down the plant cell wall network structure and releasing the simple sugars that are subsequently fermented by bacteria or yeast to ethanol
How is ethanol created from biomass?
The common method for converting biomass into ethanol is called fermentation. During fermentation, microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and yeast) metabolize plant sugars and produce ethanol.
Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is a process that combines enzymatic hydrolysis with fermentation to obtain value-added products in a single step. This process is based on the use of an enzymatic complex to hydrolyze cellulose and obtain sugars.
To evaluate the saccharification and fermentation capacity of a previously isolated organism to hydrolyse low-cost lignocellulosic wastes such as wheat bran, sago waste, and rice bran without pre-treatment.
The bacteria used was Bacillus sp PM06, which they had isolated from sugar cane waste. When this isolate was grown in the presence of lignocellulosic biomass, starch and cellulose were broken down to yield alpha-amylase and cellulase enzymes. Ethanol and acetic acid were also produced, which are useful in various industries.