Waste to enzymes through solid state fermentation

• Main Authors: Agamuthu, Pariatamby, Nithiya, A.
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/10997/1/Waste_to_Enzymes.pdf; http://eprints.um.edu.my/10997/
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

Malaysia is facing tremendous challenges in minimizing the 8 million tonnes of municipal and agricultural waste thrown into landfill every year. Waste disposal is a major problem, as the costs associated with waste management are skyrocketing. Annually around 998 million tonnes of agricultural wastes are being produced globally. Only 15% is used as animal feed, particularly as cattle supplement, plant fertilizer or soil conditioner, while the rest are dumped in landfills; which leads to adverse environmental impacts including global warming. In order to minimize the waste, one option is to convert the waste to value-added products. Brewery spent grain (BSG), sugar cane baggase (SCB)and spent mushroom compost (SMC) are the agro- ndustrial waste disposed abundantly into landfills in Malaysia. These lignin and cellulose rich agro-industrial wastes have a big potential in enzyme production where it can supply and become economical source of raw material. It can act as an inducer in ligninolytic activities. High sugar content in the wastes made it economically feasible for enzyme production via solid state fermentation (SSF).The objective of this research is to examine the prospects of using agro-industrial wastes for the production of value-added product like as enzymes. The study involved the utilization of three types of agro-industrial wastes such as BSG, SCB and SMC as substrate in SSF trials. Two species of fungi namely Aspergillus niger and Schizophyllum commune were used as the fermenting organisms. From the fermented extracts, the activities of laccase, a hydrolytic enzyme was assayed. Results indicated that extracts from SCB fermented by A. niger showed highest enzyme activity. The laccase activity in (SCB) was 608% higher than the control. The chemical property, such as cellulose content of the substrate contributes to higher laccase production. Extracts from other substrates (BSG and SMC), fermented by A. niger showed 30% - 145% higher laccase activity compared to control. Laccase activity in all substrates, fermented by S. commune shows lower activity than the substrates fermented by A. niger. Among the substrates tested, sugar cane baggase seems to be more suitable for extracellular enzyme production by fungal solid state fermentation.