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 absolutely clear residual broth, when compared with that containing freely suspended cells confirming complete adherence of the cells. It was found that this method of immobilization was simple and had no detrimental effects on the growth or activity of the cells. The enzyme productivity of immobilized Aspergillus sp. 5 was 1.68-fold higher than that of freely suspended cells, while for the case of Aspergillus sp. 44 the difference in productivity between freely suspended and immobilized cells was not significant. In repeated batch fermentation of both immobilized Aspergillus sp. 5 and Aspergillus sp. 44, the same biocatalyst yielded 103.93%, 97.02%, 51.8% and 97.52%, 72.08% xylanase activity in consecutive cycles.