Production of bacterial nanocellulose from wine industry residues: Importance of fermentation time on pellicle characteristics

Abstract

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) was produced by Gluconacetobacter xylinus under static conditions using grape pomace extract (the most abundant residue of the wine industry) as a carbon source and corn steep liquor (a byproduct of corn wet-milling) as the main nitrogen source. Carbon and nitrogen source concentrations, as well as inocula size, fermentation time, and temperature, were all considered in order to maximize BNC production by the use of statistically designed experiments and the response surface methodology. At optimum production conditions, the effect of fermentation time on morphology, solids content, chemical structure, crystallinity, thermal decomposition pattern, and storage modulus of dried BNC pellicles was analyzed. The results evidenced that dried BNC pellicles that were incubated for longer times showed higher thermal stability, higher crystallinity, and higher storage modulus, resulting from a denser nanoribbons network. All of these characteristics will certainly play a role in the performance of BNC in practical applications.