Glucose and xylose utilization by Bacillus cereus AS1 during anaerobic fermentation

Abstract

The aim was to determine the growth potential of Bacillus cereus using glucose and xylose as the substrates. In this study a bacterial isolate was identified by 16s rRNA gene sequencing. Bacillus. cereus can metabolise glucose and xylose as the sole carbon sources during anaerobic fermentation. The biomass growth profile showed a lag of about 8 h, followed by an increase in the biomass. The growth profile was better on glucose than xylose. The maximum biomass concentration achieved was 3.64 g/L and 2.62 g/L using glucose and xylose, respectively. The higher the initial substrate concentration the higher the growth of the bacteria. The growth of B. cereus was accompanied by a decrease in the ORP. Its ability to metabolise xylose proves that it has the potential to convert biomass-derived feed for possible applications as a bio-fertilizer.