Conversion of cellulose to glucose by microbes isolated from higher termites

Abstract

The aim of this research was to convert cellulose to glucose by using bacteria isolated from higher termites. Due to the cellulose structure comprising several units of cellulose fibrils with high crystallinity, a pretreatment step is required in order to reduce the crystallinity and increase the accessibility of celloluse. An ionic liquid, 1-buty l-3-methylimidazolium chloride, or [BMIM]C1, was used in the pretreatment step. The effects of cellullose-to-[BMIM]Cl ratio, temperature, and time for the dissolution of cellulose were studied. The optimum conditions of the pretreatment step were found to be a cellullose-to-[BMIM]Cl ratio of 5: 100, a temperature of 100℃ and a treatment time of 4 h. After that, the enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated cellulose using cellulases derived from bacteria isolated from higher termites, Microcerotermes sp., was studied. The maximum amount of glucose production obtained from the hydrolysis step at 37℃ was 0.59 g/L.