Valorization of agro-industrial wastes using fungi for industrial enzymes production

Abstract

Huge quantities of the agricultural wastes are produced from practices related to industrial processing, which are mainly burned and thrown in landfills, becoming a threat to the human health and causing environmental pollution. Agro-industrial residues, such as sugarcane bagasse, orange peel, wheat bran, corn straw, barley, rice straw, corn cob, husk, soy bran, and coffee husk were considered as valuable raw materials that can be converted into products of biotechnological interest using microorganisms. Agro-industrial wastes rich in nutrients, such as proteins, minerals, and sugars that, used as possible low cost substrates, for the fungal cultivation, thus considered as an alternative eco-friendly tool for many biological products of economic value, such as enzymes. Fungi organisms are capable of synthesizing a wide range of relevant oxidative and hydrolytic extracellular enzymes, such as peroxidases, laccases, xylanases, and cellulases. The enzymes secreted fungi, are proteins that function as bio-catalysts, responsible for carrying out various biochemical reactions, which applied in food, detergent, cellulose, paper, cosmetics and textile industries, etc. Thus, the replacement of raw materials with lignocellulosic-sources can result in reducing environmental problems and resolving the pollution associated with their disposal, in addition a higher investment will be gained. Therefore, a review was carried out on the important value of agro-industrial wastes, and the cultivation of fungal isolates for economic production of the industrially important enzymes, based on submerged and solid-state fermentation processes, as well as the important application of these enzymes.