Cellulase Production from Paecilomyces Lilacinus ICP1 Using Coffee Pulp as Substrate

Abstract

Cellulase can be produced by a microorganism, such as fungi. The cellulolytic microorganism used in this study was Paecilomyces lilacinus ICP1. P. lilacinus ICP1 is one of the indigenous fungi from coffee pulp that has been known to produce cellulose. Coffee pulp is expected to be able to replace the use of pure cellulose substrate because of its high cellulose content of 63% and other organic materials that can support the growth of cellulolytic microorganisms. One method that is often used for enzyme production by utilizing agricultural or plantation waste is Solid State Fermentation (SSF). Cellulase production by Pae-cilomyces lilacinus ICP1 using coffee pulp waste as a substrate has been investigated. Through Solid State Fermentation of coffee pulp substrate based the P. lilacinus ICP1 can produce cellulase up to 0.17 U/ml with 3 days of incubation at 30 °C. Cellulase activity was measured base on reducing sugar produced using the Somogyi-Nelson method against 0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose in 20 mM acetate buffer pH 5. The crude cellulase was then dialyzed through a cellulose membrane with 12-14 kDa pores in the same buffer. In this step, the activity was 0.47 U/ml, an increase about three times from the initial. These results proved that P. lilacinus ICP1 could secrete extracellular cellulase through Solid State Fermentation using coffee pulp waste without any nutrients added so that it may become a strategy industrial scale to produce cellulase cheaply.