Effects of castor oil on cellulase enzymatic activities on pure cellulose during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF)

• Main Author: Rossyuhaida, binti Mohd Zakria
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2012
• Subjects: SB Plant culture
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8326/1/Rossyuhaida%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8326/

Castor oil from castor (Ricinus communis) seed can be used as ethanol absorbent during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). This study was performed to investigate the effect of castor oil on cellulase enzymatic activity on pure cellulose during SSF. In this experiment, SSFs were performed in a 150 ml working volume in media bottles after being aseptically inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Carbomethyl cellulose (CMC) of 5% (w/v) and 10% (w/v) were used as feedstocks with 25 FPUlg CMC and 50 FPU/g CMC. Then, 15 ml castor oil was added into the fermentation broths. The fermentation broths were incubated at 37°C and agitated at 120 rpm under anaerobic conditions for 5 days. Data were obtained by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and the respective graph were plotted. Cellulase activities were then investigated by performing enzyme assay. When castor oil was present in the fermentation broth, the ethanol concentration was reduced. However, both cellobiose and glucose were also reduced suggesting better utilization while having access ethanol absorbent into the castor oil layer. From this study, the data suggest that the effect of castor oil towards S. cerevisiae was not significant. Furthermore, cellulase enzymatic activities became better at 25 FPUlg CMC in the presence of castor oil. This result showed that castor oil can be selectively used as ethanol absorbent in the fermentation broth during SSF to increase ethanol yield.