Utilization of Agricultural Wastes for Production of Pharmaceutical Glucose by Microbial Amylolytic Enzymes

Yasser Fathy Abdelaleim1, Alaa Ropy Mahmod2*, Mohamed H.H. Roby3

Abstract

The amylolytic enzymes are a group of hydrolytic enzymes of wide application in many industries such as food, textile, paper and digestive pharmaceutical preparations. The aim of the present study was to find the best nutritional conditions for the production of the two amylolytic enzymes namely; α-amylase and glucoamylase, using cheap and locally available wastes. For this reason, strains of Bacillus subtilis and Aspergillus foetidus were used for the production of α- amylase and glucoamylase, respectively. Several media were tested for the production both enzymes on laboratory scale using agricultural wastes. The best medium for α-amylase production (230 U/ml) consists of 6% of both corn starch and dried yeast, 0.1% K2HPO4, 0.02% MgSO4.7H2O, 0.001% MnSO4 and 0.001% Fe2(SO4)3, and NaCl. The highest activity of glucoamylase (46 U/ml) was obtained on a medium containing 6% wheat bran, 4% dried yeast, 0.1% K2HPO4, 0.05%MgSO4, 0.05% KCl and 0.001% FeSO4. The using of these two enzymes for production of glucose from corn starch was remarkable with 88-90% conversion efficiency. The IR spectroscopic analysis of the produced dextrose powder showed that it meets the pharmaceutical grade.

Key words

α-amylase, glucoamylase, starch saccharification, Bacillus subtilis and Aspergillus foetidus.