Bacterial cellulose production by Acetobacter xylinum ATCC 23767 using tobacco waste extract as culture medium

In this study, bacterial cellulose (BC) was synthesized by Acetobacter xylinum ATCC 23767 using tobacco waste extract (TWE) as a carbon source. Nicotine was found to be an inhibitory factor for BC synthesis, but it can be removed at pH 9.0 by steam distillation. After removing nicotine, the BC production was 2.27 g/L in TWE prepared with solid-liquid (S-L) ratio at 1:10. To further enhance the BC production, two fermentation stages were performed over 16 days by re-adjusting the pH to 6.5 at 7 days, after the first fermentation stage was completed. Using this two-stage fermentation, the BC production could reach 5.2 g/L. Structural and thermal analysis by FE-SEM, FT-IR, XRD and TGA showed the properties of BC obtained from TWE were similar to that from Hestrin-Schramm (HS) medium. Considering the huge disposal tobacco waste in China, the present study provides an alternative methodology to synthesize BC.