Comparative Evaluation of Reducing Sugar Yields Produced from Corn Cob and Corn Stalk Hydrolysis using Aspergillus Niger

Abstract

Over the years, managing agricultural wastes after harvest in developing countries like Nigeria has been a major challenge and continues to generate environmental concerns. To address the concerns, these agricultural wastes in the form of lignocellulosic biomass are burned. This approach, in turn, had led to a greater environmental interest as emission of green house gases to the atmosphere is increased. The attendant implications of this are significant contribution to ozone layer depletion and elimination of soil microflora present. Interestingly, these wastes are potential precursors for biofuel production. This study was undertaken to investigate the reducing sugar (RS) yields of two lignocellulosic biomass wastes (corn stalk and corn cob) as biofuel precursors. The findings of the study showed that the optimal RS yields as product of hydrolysis using Aspergillus niger isolated from soil after 72 h of hydrolysis were 2.9 mg/ml and 3.0 mg/ml for corn cob and corn stalk, respectively.