Biosynthesis and characterization of bacterial cellulose from the Kombucha tea

Abstract

Cellulose is an important biopolymer, used as a raw material for different industrial applications. This represents the most abundant natural polymer on the planet, because it is present as the constituent of most of the biomass of the plants, located in the plant cell wall. With the technological advance, different alternatives different alternatives to develop this material in a sustainable and productive way are searched, one of them is the production of cellulose from microbial metabolism. Kombucha consists of a broth fermented from a symbiotic association between bacteria and yeasts capable of producing bacterial cellulose (CB). The obtained cellulose was treated with water and with NaOH, and through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), we observed greater preservation in the integrity of the fiber in the treatment with water. This was confirmed in the filtration test where the CB (H2O) presented a reduction of 82.8% in the microbial population of the water coming from a stream, followed by 47.9% in the CB (NaOH). Infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) revealed a subtle difference between the two treatments, while the tensile test showed that the alkaline treatment reduces the resistance limit of the fiber by more than 2 times. Based on the results obtained we can assess that the cellulose obtained from kombucha has interesting characteristics for commercial use in several segments as use in human grafts to coat the skin and as a filter for retention of biological particles Indoors as airplanes and even hospital use to contain the dissemination of pathogens.