Ethanol production by a cellulolytic fungus Aspergillus terreus NCFT 4269.10 using agro-waste as a substrate

Aspergillus terreus NCFT 4269.10 was evaluated for the production of cellulase by liquid state surface fermentation (LSSF), liquid shaking fermentation (LShF) and solid state fermentation (SSF). Maximum cellulase production was observed in LSSF (344.88 +/- 3.5U/ml) when banana peel (BP) was used as the substrate followed by wheat bran (WB) and sawdust (SD). The total protein content was 1160.72 +/- 2.7 mg/ml when SSF was carried. It was observed that maximum biomass of A. terreus was obtained with WB (0.55 +/- 0.07 g/50 ml) as compared to other substrates. Immobilized spores of A. terreus applied for fermentation study revealed maximum cellulase activity (809.38 +/- 2.7 U/ml) with BP up to the second cycle and decreased thereafter. The secretion of protein content was noticed at every cycle and continued up to the fifth cycle displaying a peak at the fourth cycle (2243.83 +/- 9.7 mg/ml ml) when SD was used as the substrate. It is observed that the third flask containing S. cerevisiae substrate with cellulase was able to produce the highest amount of alcohol (19.8 g/L) with high purity (1.9%) as compared to the substrate with S. cerevisiae (7.9 g/L) and co-cultivated fermentation conditions (4 g/L).