Production of bacterial cellulose from glycerol: the current state and perspectives

Abstract

Current research in industrial microbiology and biotechnology focuses on the production of biodegradable microbial polymers as an environmentally friendly alternative to the still dominant fossil hydrocarbon-based plastics. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is important among microbial polymers due to its valuable properties and broad applications in variety of fields from medical to industrial technologies. However, the increase in BC production and its wider deployment is still limited by high costs of traditionally used raw materials. It is therefore necessary to focus on less expensive inputs, such as agricultural and industrial by-products or waste including the more extended use of glycerol. It is the environmentally harmful by-product of biofuel production and reducing it will also reduce the risk of environmental pollution. The experimental data obtained so far confirm that glycerol can be used as the renewable carbon source to produce BC through more efficient and environmentally friendly bioprocesses. This review summarizes current knowledge on the use of glycerol for the production of commercially prospective BC, including information on producer cultures, fermentation modes and methods used, nutrient medium composition, cultivation conditions, and bioprocess productivity. Data on the use of some related sugar alcohols, such as mannitol, arabitol, xylitol, for the microbial synthesis of cellulose are also considered, as well as the main methods and applications of glycerol pre-treatment briefly described.

Better under stress: Improving bacterial cellulose production by Komagataeibacter xylinus K2G30 (UMCC 2756) using adaptive laboratory evolution

“…The reaction that provides glucose monomers to BC biosynthesis is the isomerization of the glucose-6-phosphate to glucose-1-phosphate by the phosphoglucomutase (PGM). This pathway was also described previously ( Zikmanis et al, 2021 ).…”

A sustainable bioprocess to produce bacterial cellulose (BC) using waste streams from wine distilleries and the biodiesel industry: evaluation of BC for adsorption of phenolic compounds, dyes and metals

“…Finally, the valorization of pure glycerol may lead to greenhouse gas emissions and chemical waste generation due to energy-intensive purification processes. On the other hand, converting low-value crude glycerol into valuable products addressed broader goals of sustainability and resource efficiency [ 49 ].…”

Super-strong and high-performance electrical film heater derived from silver nanowire/aligned bacterial cellulose film

“…BC films with different wet-stretching percentages showed significant diffraction peaks at 14.6°, 16.3° and 22.5° with a slightly distinguishable difference in their intensities. The peaks were indexed to the (100), (010) and (110) crystallographic planes of cellulose Iα, respectively, as reported in the previous studies (Zikmanis et al 2021 ). BC-40 and BC-30 showed higher intensities at the (100) and (110) angles, proving that they pose highly crystalline structures.…”

“…Aerobic bacteria produces bacterial cellulose (BC) with randomly oriented fibrous network structure under static immersion. As compared with plant-based cellulose, BC fibers possess high specific surface area/purify/crystallinity/degree of polymerization, along with better biocompatibility (Zikmanis et al 2021 ). In addition, the align BC film prepared by wet-stretching method shows excellent mechanical properties (Wang et al 2018 ).…”