Abstract
Microbial cellulases are highly versatile catalysts with significant potential in various industries, including pulp and paper, textile manufacturing, laundry, biofuel production, food and animal feed, brewing, and agriculture. Cellulases have attracted considerable attention from the scientific community owing to their broad industrial applications and the complex nature of enzymatic systems. In the present study, a novel fungal isolate of Aspergillus sp. IN5 was used to produce cellulases. We optimized each parameter, including carbon source, incubation temperature, pH, and incubation time, for maximum cellulase production using isolate IN5 under solid-state fermentation conditions. The optimized parameters for cellulase production by isolate IN5 under solid-state fermentation were as follows: substrate, soybean residue; incubation temperature, 35 °C; pH, 7.0; and incubation duration, 5 days. These conditions resulted in the highest total cellulase activity (0.26 U/g substrate), and carboxymethyl cellulase and β-glucosidase activities of 3.32 and 196.09 U/g substrate, respectively. The obtained fungal cellulase was used for the enzymatic hydrolysis of acid- or alkali-pretreated rice straw, which served as a model substrate. Notably, compared with acid pretreatment, the pretreatment of rice straw with diluted alkali led to higher yields of reducing sugars. Maximum reducing sugar yield (286.06 ± 2.77 mg/g substrate) was obtained after 24-h incubation of diluted alkali-pretreated rice straw mixed with an enzyme loading of 15 U/g substrate. The findings of this study provide an alternative strategy for utilizing agricultural waste and an approach to efficiently produce cellulase for the degradation of lignocellulosic materials, with promising benefits for sustainable waste management.