Trends in bioconversion of lignocellulose: Biofuels, platform chemicals & biorefinery concept

Hemicelluloses for fuel ethanol: A review.

Microorganisms synthesise a wide range of surface-active compounds (SAC), generally called biosurfactants. These compounds are mainly classified according to their molecular weight, physico-chemical properties and mode of action. The low-molecular-weight SACs or biosurfactants reduce the surface tension at the air/water interfaces and the interfacial tension at oil/water interfaces, whereas the high-molecular-weight SACs, also called bioemulsifiers, are more effective in stabilising oil-in-water emulsions. Biosurfactants are attracting much interest due to their potential advantages over their synthetic counterparts in many fields spanning environmental, food, biomedical, and other industrial applications. Their large-scale application and production, however, are currently limited by the high cost of production and by limited understanding of their interactions with cells and with the abiotic environment. In this paper, we review the current knowledge and the latest advances in biosurfactant applications and the biotechnological strategies being developed for improving production processes and future potential.

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Microbial biosurfactants production, applications and future potential

A variety of synthetic dyestuffs released by the textile industry pose a threat to environmental safety. Azo dyes account for the majority of all dyestuffs, produced because they are extensively used in the textile, paper, food, leather, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Existing effluent treatment procedures are unable to remove recalcitrant azo dyes completely from effluents because of their color fastness, stability and resistance to degradation. Bacterial decolorization and degradation of azo dyes under certain environmental conditions has gained momentum as a method of treatment, as these are inexpensive, eco-friendly and can be applied to wide range of such dyes. This review mainly focuses on the different mechanisms of decolorization and discusses the effect of various physicochemical parameters on the dye removal efficiency of different bacteria. The enzymatic mechanisms involved in the bacterial degradation of azo dyes, the identification of metabolites by using various analytical techniques, and the nature of their toxicity has been investigated. This review provides an overview of bacterial decolorization/degradation of azo dyes and emphasizes the application of these processes for the treatment of azo dye-containing wastewaters.

Bacterial decolorization and degradation of azo dyes: a review.

Positive ions that are available in soils absorb on grain surfaces. The total sum of cations that can be absorbed bij a soil/sediment at a certain PH is defined by the cation-exchange capacity (CEC, in meq g-1: mol equivalents per gram). The uptake of cations is an important parameter in agriculture and the larger the CEC, the more cations can be absorbed to the soil. The CEC depends highly on the pH of soil and sediments, where the CEC decreases with decreasing PH (increasing acidity). The exchange of ions on sediments occurs commonly fast on geological time scales, but the kinetics of adsorption in natural environments is still poorly understood. The strength of the bonding between the cations and the sediments varies from weak Van der Waals bondings (physical adsorption) to strong chemical bonds. The CEC is widely used for agricultural assessment because it is a measure of general soil fertility as well as an indicator of structural stability because CED is capabel of enhancing development of shrinkage cracks. The list below shows the CEC for different types of minerals. The data indicate that the CEC can vary over 2 orders of magnitude for various types of , minerals and can vary one order of magnitude within one soil type. Cation exchange capacity for different types of sediment (Eisma, 1992; Locher and de Bakker, 1990):

Harvinder Singh Saini

Papers

Decolorization of various azo dyes by bacterial consortium

Biodegradation of azo dye C.I. Acid Red 88 by an anoxic–aerobic sequential bioreactor

Comparative studies on potential of consortium and constituent pure bacterial isolates to decolorize azo dyes.

Production of multiple xylanolytic and cellulolytic enzymes by thermophilic fungus Myceliophthora sp. IMI 387099.

Sorghum straw for xylanase hyper-production by Thermomyces lanuginosus (D2W3) under solid-state fermentation.