Open AccessScreening for an oil‐removing microorganism and oil removal from waste silk by pure culture fermentation
Author(s) -
Yang Xuexia,
Cao Zhangjun,
Lao Jihong,
Deng Yunxia,
Chen Hui
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.200800092
Subject(s) - silk , fermentation , pulp and paper industry , waste oil , food science , lipase , microorganism , chemistry , strain (injury) , waste management , biology , materials science , bacteria , organic chemistry , composite material , engineering , genetics , enzyme , anatomy
The presence of oil is the major limitation to the regeneration of spun silk from waste silk. A pure culture fermentation process was developed to remove oil from waste silk. Fourteen strains were isolated from natural fermentation liquor of waste silk. The strain D3 showed highest lipase activity and oil‐removing ability. This strain was identified as Rhodococcus sp. on the basis of morphological and biochemical characteristics and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. The strain D3 was used to remove oil from waste silk by pure culture fermentation. The effects of various parameters on oil removal were investigated. A pH of 7.0, a temperature of 35–40°C, an incubation time of three days and an inoculum of 10% were optimum conditions for removing oil from waste silk by stain D3. This study shows that pure culture fermentation is a promising process to improve the oil removal of waste silk.