Physical and Biophysical Pretreatment of Water Hyacinth Biomass for Cellulase Enzyme Production
Date
2016Author
Amriani, F
Fatimah, Fatimah
Iskandinata, I
Khumsupan, D
Barta, Z
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
One practical way to control water hyacinth overgrowth due to eutrophication is by
utilizing it as a substrate to produce cellulase. Water hyacinth was subjected to pretreatment
to degrade lignin and improve microbes’ accessibility to cellulose. Physical and
biophysical pretreatment methods were investigated. Biomass size reduction was performed
in the physical pretreatment whereas white rot fungus (Ganoderma boninense)
was used in the biophysical pretreatment. Cellulase-producing fungi, Aspergillus niger
and Trichoderma reesei, were exploited in this study. Although lignin content was reduced
by two-fold after the biophysical pretreatment, the maximum production of cellulase
occurred when only the physical pretreatment was employed on the substrate. It may
be because the higher apparent crystallinity of cellulose in physical pretreatment triggers
more cellulase production compared to that in biophysical pretreatment. The maximum
cellulase activity was found to be 1.035 IU mL–1 when water hyacinth was only physically
pretreated.