Production, Characterization and Physico-mechanical Properties of Bacterial Cellulose from Industrial Wastes

In the current study, two different alternative media including black strap molasses (BSM) and molasses from condensation unit of brewery industry (MB) were evaluated for production of bacterial cellulose (BC) in comparison to chemically defined Hestrin-Schramm (HS) medium as a control under static and shaking conditions. In static culture, the BC production was 2.90, 1.74, 2.41 g/l for BSM, MB and HS media, respectively after 9 days of cultivation. The production slightly increased to 3.05, 1.78, 2.49 g/l for BSM, MB and HS media, respectively under shaking conditions after 9 days. The chemical structure of BC samples was confirmed through FTIR and XRD analysis. FE-SEM analysis revealed slightly loose fibril arrangement in BSM-BC and MB-BC compared to HS-BC. Water holding capacity was in order of BSM-BC > MB-BC > HS-BC. The mechanical and thermal properties of BSM-BC and MB-BC were slightly lower than the HS-BC.