Comparative Study and Characterization of Water-treated Bacterial Cellulose produced by Solid or Liquid inoculum of Komagateibacter sucrofermentans

Abstract Structural and physicochemical properties of the water-treated bacterial cellulose (BC) which was produced by Komagateibacter sucrofermentans strain DSM 15973T either from a solid inoculum of the bacterial preculture in HS medium (BCS7) or liquid one (BCL7) after 7 days were investigated in this work. BCL7 was generally proved to be superior to BCS7 regarding BC yield and water holding capacity (WHC). BCL1-7 and BCS7 were analyzed by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray diffraction), Nitrogen Adsorption-Desorption Isotherms, TG (thermogravimetric) and DTG (differential thermogravimetric) analysis, in order to investigate the structural modifications and physicomechanical properties of the water-treated BC pellicles. Both BC7 exhibited a high moisture content (98.8%) and the water release content for BCL7 of 1000 mL retained ~12 g of water after 100 h. BCL7 exhibited higher wet mass, specific surface area, pore volume and pore size distribution compared to BCS7. BCL showed an IV(a) isotherm and the crystallinity index of both BC7 were similar (about 55%). BC thermograms followed the same trend and BCS7 reveals a 35% residue up to 780oC. Overall, the resulted structural and physicomechanical differences between BCL and BCS pellicles appears that each could be used for different application.