Characterization of Morphology and Physical Strength for Bacterial Cellulose Produced by an Enterobacter sp.

An Enterobacter sp. produces a bacterial cellulose using glucose as a carbon source stably, even under agitating cultivation conditions. The optical microscopic observation on the bacterial cellulose from Enterobacter sp. under agitating conditions showed numerous fibrils one micrometer long radiating from central cellulose clumps with an average diameter of ca.3μm. The hydrolysis experiment on the bacterial cellulose with aids of AFM and X-ray analyses revealed that the strands of microfibrils of the bacterial cellulose were constituted of significant small particles with higher (1-10) plane orientation which promotes to form much entanglement between them by hydrogen bonding. Physical properties induced by such specific morphology of the bacterial cellulose were examined in sheet state. The bacterial cellulose sheet had considerably smaller pore distribution, judging from SEM observation, and revealed to have a potential ability to absorb organic solvent within the sheet. Here, commercially available bacterial cellulose was used just as a comparison about crystalline structure and some properties.