Isolation of Fungus from Roots of Water Hyacinth and Cellulase Production by The Microorganism from Cardboard Waste

Abstract

."Bioethanol production from agro-industrial waste is becoming a major research area for alternative fuel. The cellulase enzyme is the key ingredient used for the cellulosic bioethanol fermentation process. India is abundant in cellulosic resources that come from paper and pulp industries. Single-use newspaper and packaging cardboards constitute a significant portion of cellulosic wastes. Here in this study, an industrial enzyme cellulase was produced from single-use newspaper and cardboard wastes. Afungus was isolated (THS8) from the root of the water hyacinth collected from an abundant pond located near Badoli village, Faridabad (India). The fungus was used to do a comparative study for cellulase production by using different substrates such as pure carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), cardboard (CB), coated cardboard (CBC) and newspaper (NP). The maximum cellulase activity 0.149 FPU (Filter paper unit)/ml was estimated in cardboard (20g/l) grown in MW (Mandel Weber) medium. Likewise, a total of 60% degradation of the cardboard was observed after 7 days of incubation at 30°C with 0.27 FPU/ml optimized at CB 20g/l. This demonstrates the feasibility of using cardboard as a less expensive feedstock, which is usually dumped after unpacking items in households and industries, to produce cellulase enzyme by the isolated microorganism."