Enzymatic refining of paper cup waste pulp to produce quality paper with cellulase from trichoderma longibrachiatum isolate

The present paper highlights the isolation of potential fungal isolate for optimization and production of cellulase enzyme. Cellulase enzyme produced by the isolate under Solid State Fermentation (SSF) was used as refining aid to produce quality paper from paper cup waste pulp. Fifty six fungal isolates were obtianed from different sources using soil, degraded wood and paper mill waste pulp, cotton waste and screened for cellulolytic activity by congo red plate method. The most potent cellulase producing fungal isolate was identified as Trichoderma longibrachiatum and used in the present study to optimize environmental (initial pH, temperature, incubation period and moisture content) and nutritional (carbon and nitrogen sources) parameters for maximum cellulase production. Wheat bran an agro-industrial residue was used as carbon source to produce cellulase enzyme for economic viability of cellulase production under SSF. CMCase and FPase activities of cellulase from Trichoderma longibrachiatum were found to be 33.3 IU/gds and 9.4 FPU/ gds respectively. The cellulase enzyme thus produced was used as refining aid for paper cup waste pulp to convert it into quality paper. Studies were focused with an aim to find out the effect of cellulase enzyme treatment on paper cup waste pulp in reduction of energy consumption during refining and strength properties of the resultant pulp