BIODEGRADATION OF ACACIA AND CHESTNUT TANNINS BY NATIVE ISOLATES OF THE GENUS Penicillium AND Aspergillus

Abstract

In the present work, the potential of native isolates of fungi strains to biodegrade vegetable tannins used in the tanning industry was evaluated. Penicillium citrinum showed to be more efficient for consumption of acacia tannin, reaching 94.85%. Aspergillus chevalieri needs a greater adaptation phase (48 h) in both acacia and chestnut medium, evidenced by the slow growth (0.022 h-1) and low biomass productivity (0.31 g.L-1. h-1). The acacia tannin presented a higher COD/BOD ratio (2.97) and lower total phenol content (68%) when compared to chestnut tannin. In addition, there was greater consumption of this tannin in the cultivations, which contradicts previous reports and corroborates the results obtained with FTIR analysis that suggests the biodegradation of acacia by Penicillium citrinum and aethiopicum. The expressive results obtained demonstrated that the biodegradation of condensed tannins may be a promising alternative, with the potential to minimize tannery waste.

Tannase and gallic acid production by Aspergillus niger SWP33 and Penicillium griseoroseum T11 using agricultural wastes under submerged and solid-state fermentation and its application

“…[29]. The filamentous fungi have the ability to break down the ester and depside bonds found in tannic acid to generate gallic acid and glucose as hydrolysis products according to [30]. Furthermore, the ten isolates appeared the ability to grow and degrade tannin in broth medium, as shown in Table 2.…”