Evaluation of Industrial Wastewaters as Low-Cost Resources for Sustainable Enzyme Production by Bacillus Species

Vu_Mai_Linh Nguyen, Adama Ndao (), Jean-François Blais and Kokou Adjallé
Additional contact information
Vu_Mai_Linh Nguyen: Centre Eau Terre Environnement (ETE), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 490 Rue de la Couronne, Quebec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
Adama Ndao: Centre Eau Terre Environnement (ETE), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 490 Rue de la Couronne, Quebec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
Jean-François Blais: Centre Eau Terre Environnement (ETE), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 490 Rue de la Couronne, Quebec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
Kokou Adjallé: Centre Eau Terre Environnement (ETE), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 490 Rue de la Couronne, Quebec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada

Clean Technol., 2025, vol. 7, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: The increasing demand for industrial enzymes calls for cost-effective and sustainable production strategies. This study investigates the potential of industrial wastewater as an alternative fermentation medium for enzyme synthesis, aligning with the principles of the circular bioeconomy. Four wastewater types from Québec, Canada—beverage wastewater (BW), pulp and paper mill activated sludge (PPMS), food industry wastewater (FIW), and starch industry wastewater (SIW)—were evaluated for their potential to support protease, amylase, and lipase production using Bacillus licheniformis , Bacillus amyloliquefaciens , and Bacillus megaterium . Initial screening identified SIW as optimal for amylase production with B. amyloliquefaciens , and PPMS for protease production with B. megaterium . Optimization using the Box–Behnken design was then performed, followed by scale-up experiments in 5 L bioreactors. B. amyloliquefaciens achieved 5.73 ± 0.01 U/mL of amylase at 48 h under 40 g/L total solids, 30 °C, and a 2% inoculum size, while B. megaterium produced the highest protease of 55.41 ± 3.54 U/mL at 24 h. Lipase production remained negligible across all media and strains. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of the potential of wastewater-based enzyme production, reducing reliance on expensive synthetic substrates, mitigating environmental burdens, and contributing to the transition to a circular bioeconomy.

Keywords: beverage wastewater; pulp and paper mill activated sludge; food industry wastewater; starch industry wastewater; Bacillus licheniformis; Bacillus amyloliquefaciens; Bacillus megaterium; protease; amylase; lipase; valorization; bioeconomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/7/2/45/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/7/2/45/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:7:y:2025:i:2:p:45-:d:1669653

Access Statistics for this article

Clean Technol. is currently edited by Ms. Shary Song

More articles in Clean Technol. from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().