Nickel ferrite nanoparticles induced improved fungal cellulase production using residual algal biomass and subsequent hydrogen production following dark fermentation

Abstract The present study reports nickel ferrite nanoparticles (NiFe2O4 NPs) induced enhanced production of crude cellulase enzyme using residual algal biomass of cyanobacteria Lyngbya limnetica as substrate. It is noticed that the residual algal substrate and NiFe2O4 NPs mediated crude cellulase exhibits nearly 2.5 fold enhanced filter paper activity after 72 h along with better efficiency in terms of pH and thermal stability as compared to the control system. Further, NiFe2O4 NPs mediated crude cellulase enzyme was employed for the enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw to produce sugar hydrolyzate. Subsequently, using bacterial strains Bacillus subtilisPF_1 the cumulative hydrogen ~ 1820 mL/L has been produced under the dark fermentation.