PRODUCTION OF BACTERIAL CELLULOSE FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTES USING THE BACTERIAL STRAIN ISOLATED FROM KOMBUCHA.

Background and Aim: Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a highly pure polymer produced by different bacterial species as Acetobacter, Gluconobacter, pseudomonas and Sarcina. Because of its unique properties, it has been used in different industrial applications. Kombucha tea (KT) is a popular drink that is obtained from the fermentation of a sugared black tea with a precultured tea fungus sample which is a symbiotic association of bacteria and yeasts; forming a thick pellicle of BC as a secondary metabolite. Using BC on a large scale in different industries is limited because of the high costs of production process and the low yield of the produced BC. Scientists began to use different wastes as alternative carbon and nitrogen sources to decrease the costs of the production process. So, the aim of this study was the isolationand identification ofcellulose producing bacteria from kombucha tea, testing the efficiency of the isolated bacterial strain in producing BC in media formulated with treated beet molasses or acid whey as a carbon source and corn steep liquor as a nitrogen source, evaluation of the produced BC paper sheet of the media with the highest yield in terms of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-Ray Diffraction, tensile strength and degree of polymerization. Methods using: Isolation of the bacteria responsible for producing cellulose from kombucha tea using the Hestrin- Schramm (HS) and CaCo3 media,the identification of bacterial isolate according to itsmorphological, biochemical characteristics and molecular characterization using the 16S rRNA gene sequence,production of BC using the isolated bacterial strain on media formulated with different industrial wastes, characterization of the produced BC with the highest yield by SEM, FT-IR and with X-Ray Diffraction. Determination of the tensile strength and the degree of polymerization of the BC paper sheet. Results: The morphological, biochemical characterization revealed that the isolated bacteria belongs to the Acetobacter sp. The identification using the 16S rRNA indicated that the gene sequence of the isolated bacteria was very similar to the Acetobacter PasteurianusIFO 3283-01. The highest yield of BC was obtained in the TMCSL media (7g/l), followed by that obtained in AWCSL media (5.83g/l). The BC paper sheet produced in TMCSL media was characterized where the SEM analysis showed the high porosity, three dimensional structure of the produced BC. The BC paper sheet was characterized by high degree of polymerization (2597), high crystallinity (88.9%) and high tensile strength value (96.72MPa). Conclusions: According to the obtained results,it was concluded that using low cost wastes as treated molasses; acid whey and corn steep liquoras alternativecarbon andnitrogen sourcesforproducingBC decreased the production costs and increased theyield of the obtained BC. Also, the strain Acetobacter PasteurianusIFO 3283-01 isolated from kombucha tea gave high yield of BC in the TMCSL media, this BC paper sheet was characterized by high crystallinity, high tensile strengthand high DP value. Considering these obtained results, the produced BC can be used in different industrial applications because of its unique properties.