Relative Saccharification of Various Waste Paper Materials by Cellulase from Aspergillus niger

Waste paper is a major component of organic solid waste with cellulose, composed of numerous glucose units, a structural component of waste paper. Cellulase a hydrolytic enzyme can hydrolyse cellulose into glucose thus initiate a possibility of developing cellulose as a renewable energy resource. Eight different waste paper materials have been biodegraded into glucose with cellulase from A. niger. Non-pretreated paper materials as well as pulped paper materials were treated with the cellulase enzyme system. Pulping proved to be an effective physical pretreatment method for increased cellulose catalyzed degradation of cellulose associated with waste paper. It was also shown that different waste papers released different amounts of sugar during cellulase catalyzed saccharification.