Catalytic Scheme of Cellulase-Producing Actinomycete Isolates on Paper Degradation

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Land pollution is a common problem caused by improper solid waste management in Metro Manila. Seventeen percent of this is from the paper due to minimal recycling practices. Recycling paper is not advisable according to Science Focus because it introduces metals to water supplies. Most papers is also often disposed of through biomass burning since they are hard to degrade. Researchers hypothesized whether cellulase-producing Actinomycetes can decompose paper by measuring the decomposition rate.

METHODS

Actinomycete isolates were tested for the production of cellulase. Yeast Malt Broth and Minimal Media containing 0.5 grams of cellulose were steamed. Yeast malt agar was used to revive the isolates. Isolates were inoculated into the minimal media. Positive growth of spores was screened. Isolates from the first screening with positive growth were inoculated into the YMB media. The broth was screened for growth of isolates and the positives were used for paper decomposition. Three replicates were used, using both of the isolates that grew in YMB and its counterpart in minimal media. The set-ups were observed for 50 days. The decomposition rate was measured using a percentage. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyze data. Disposal of the set-ups was done accordingly afterward.

RESULTS

VYMA 6 YMB had the greatest decomposition rate of 25.67% making it the most effective. There was a significant interaction between the isolate used and the media used, where the F-interaction (3.39569) was greater than the F-critical value (3.23887). There was a significant difference between the pairs VYMA6 YMB and PBA2 YMB, VBA22 MM and PBA2 MM, VYMA6 YMB and PBA2 MM, VYMA6 YMB and PBA47 YMB, PBA47 MM and VBA22 MM, VYMA6 YMB and PBA47 MM, VBA22 YMB and VBA22 MM, VBA22 YMB and VYMA6 YMB, VBA22 MM and VYMA6 MM, and VYMA6 YMB and VYMA6 MM.

DISCUSSIONS

This study showed that cellulase-producing isolates can decompose paper and the decomposition of the isolate was affected by the media used, whether minimal media or yeast malt broth. The ability of the isolates to produce cellulose enzymes such as endoglucanase and exoglucanase can break the strong hydrogen bonds of cellulose in the paper. From the results gathered, it will take two years, seven months, and twenty-five days for fifteen milliliters of the media with cellulose-producing Actinomycete isolates to decompose the paper completely. This is less than the average decomposition which takes five to twenty years according to the 6-year analysis conducted by Baldwin et al. (1998).