Bioprocess Optimization for Pectinase Enzymes Synthesized from Fungal Species Under Solid-State Fermentation Conditions

Pectinases represent a class of enzymes involved in the breakdown of pectin-rich compounds. The importance of pectinases are well documented as they command at least a quarter of all food enzymes and 70% of all the fruit and juice processing enzymes sold around the world, respectively. The worldwide enzymes market is presently valued at $12.3 billion and is predicted to grow to $20.31 billion by 2030. This study successfully optimized the various conditions that could illicit the synthesis of pectinolytic enzymes using Aspergillus niger obtained from the soil of decomposed fruit and vegetable matter under solid-state fermentation conditions. Under the respective optimized fermentation conditions, the peak pectinase enzyme synthesis had been achieved under pH 6.0 (121.1 U/ml), incubation period of 5 days (117.4 U/ml), substrate morphology/particles size (118.0 U/ml), Peptone as nitrogen source (127.6 U/ml), Potassium chloride (KCl) as mineral salt (112.3 U/ml), Tween-20 as surfactant (126.8 U/ml), inoculum volume of 5.0ml (139.4 U/ml) and powdered Citrus peels as the best carbon source (124.8 U/ml). Under current study, moisture content (70%) and room temperature (25-30°C) and fermentation vessel (2.2L perforated tin tomato cans) were constantly maintained throughout the experiments executed under solid-state fermentation conditions. The success achieved from current study, make this enzyme isolated from Aspergillus niger, a potential candidate for many industrial applications including fruit juice clarification, wine production, food processing, coffee and tea fermentation, protoplast fusion, waste treatment, production of pharmaceuticals, detergents, pulp and paper and biofuels.