Analysis of the Environmental Life Cycle of Bacterial Cellulose Production

Abstract

Cellulose is one of the most abundant natural polymers on earth and is mainly produced by plants, although many bacteria, especially those belonging to the genus Gluconacetobacter, produce a very peculiar form of cellulose with mechanical and structural properties that can be exploited in numerous industrial applications. Studies about the kinetic of microorganism’s growth, helps the researchers understand more about how to obtain bacterial cellulose (BC) films, within specific measurement based on fermentation process. On the last two decades, the public and scientific interest has increased regarding the use and evolution of biodegradable plastics. Beside the fact that biodegradable plastics have the desired chemistry and physics properties that most of the synthetic plastics own, it can be obtained from renewable sources. The agroindustry residue Corn Steep Liquor (CSL) was used to replace the yeast extract and peptone as carbon and nitrogen sources aiming to minimize the cost, environmental impact and to add value to BC production. The culture medium that uses CSL to produce BC according to the life cycle analysis (LCA) showed a considerable reduction of environmental impacts. Considering a production for industrial application of the biomaterial, the reduction of production costs can also be high. Keywords: Bacterial Cellulose, Gluconacetobacter hansenii; Life Cycle Analysis, Environmental im