The Enrichment and Characterization of Compost and Wastewater-Derived Microbial Cellulolytic Consortia for Biofuel Production

Over the last decade, a rise in energy demand and diminishing fuel resources have created a challenge for finding an alternative solution that could supplement our current energy sources. This study demonstrated that ethanol and other useful end-products can be produced from the fermentative activity of microbial consortia derived from cellulose-rich waste environments. Compost and wastewater were used as inoculum sources to enrich cellulolytic cultures at incubation temperatures 50 ºC and 60ºC. A chemically defined medium was used without complex nutrients such as yeast extract. Four cellulolytic cultures were obtained and their end-products were monitored over an active cellulose degrading period. The compost culture incubated at 50ºC produced the highest concentration of butyrate while the wastewater-derived culture incubated at 60ºC produced the highest ethanol concentration. Optimization of DNA extraction and purification from complex environmental samples such as the compost and wastewater cultures used in this study was also discussed.