IMMOBILIZATION OF ASPERGILLUS SP. ON NYLON BOLTING CLOTH FOR PRODUCTION OF XYLANASE

Aspergillus sp. 5 and Aspergillus sp. 44, Isolated from compost manure , were immobilized on a 400-mesh nylon bolting cloth. In shake flasks under a given set of conditions, the immobilization resulted in an abs olutely clear residual broth, when compared with that containing freel y suspended cells confirming complete adherence of the cells. It was f ound that this method of immobilization was simple and had no detrimen tal effects on the growth or activity of the cells. The enzyme product ivity of immobilized Aspergillus sp. 5 was 1.68-fold higher than that of freely suspended cells, while for the case of Aspergillus sp. 44 th e difference in productivity between freely suspended and immobilized cells was not significant. In repeated batch fermentation of both immo bilized Aspergillus sp. 5 and Aspergillus sp. 44, the same biocatalyst yielded 103.93%, 97.02%, 51.8% and 97.52%, 72.08% xylanase activity i n consecutive cycles.