BACKGROUND Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a lignocellulosic waste produced in palm oil industry. EFB mainly consists of cellulose, hemicellulose (mainly xylan) and lignin and has a great potential to be reused. Converting EFB to fermentable sugars and value-added chemicals is a much better choice than treating EFB as waste. RESULTS A cellulase-producing strain growing on oil palm empty f...

Energy is considered a prime agent in the generation of wealth and a significant factor in economic development. Recently there is renaissance in utilization of biomass for biofuel production employing cellulases and hence forth in obtaining better yields and novel activities. The present study deals with the bioconversion of cellulose from textile cotton waste into ethanol by using the methods...

The effects of dietary pH and viscosity on larval development of the New World screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), were studied in the laboratory using a gel-based and a cellulose fiber-based media. The mean initial pH of the standard gelled diet was lower (6.5 +/- 0.3) than that of the standard cellulose fiber-based diet (6.8 +/- 0.6). As larval development ...

As a lignocellulosic material, wastepaper is a potential material for ethanol production. However, little research on the enzymatic hydrolysis of wastepaper pulp has been conducted. In this study, the enzymatic hydrolysis of different waste pulp fractions (R80 represents greater than 80-mesh wastepaper pulp, R80-180 represents the range of 80to 180-mesh wastepaper pulp, and R180 represents smal...

AIM This study aims to produce and assay cellulolytic enzyme activity (endo-(1,4)-β-D-glucanase, exo-(1,4)-β-D-glucanase, and β-glucosidase, at optimum temperature and optimum pH) of Enterobacter cloacae WPL 214 isolated from bovine rumen fluid waste of Surabaya Abbatoir, Indonesia. MATERIALS AND METHODS To produce enzyme from a single colony of E. cloacae WPL 214, 98 × 10(10) CFU/ml of isola...

Dr. Pradeep Agrawal’s research is focused on the development of thermochemical pathways for converting lignocellulosic biomass into fuels and chemicals. One approach involves hydrolysis of hemi-cellulose, cellulose, and lignin into monomers which offer an alternate platform for transportation fuels and chemicals. The results offer promise for developing a green chemistry approach so that organi...

In order to meet the Renewable Fuels Standard demands for 30 billion gallons of biofuels by the end of 2020, new technologies for generation of cellulosic ethanol must be exploited. Breaking down cellulose by cellulase enzyme is very important for this purpose but this is not thermostable and degrades at higher temperatures in bioreactors. Towards creation of a more ecologically friendly method...

This work deals with the bioconversion of cellulose from press cakes of Jatropha oilseeds, which is a byproduct from a biodiesel plant, into ethanol by using the methods of acid pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The process includes the pretreatment method of the finely ground cellulosic solid oilseed cake with dilute sulphuric acid and heating the mixture a...