DEVELOPMENT OF SOLID STATE FERMENTATION SYSTEM FOR ENZYME PRODUCTION AND ITS USAGE IN A PILOT SCALE DEINKING OF PRINTED WASTE PAPER by LEE CREE KEONG Thesis submitted in fulfIllment of the requirements for the degree

The present work deals with the development of solid state fermenter for enzymes production and the development of a pilot scale of enzymatic deinking system. The newly developed solid state fermenter, was named FERMSOSTAT®, which was used for the production of cellulases and xylanase using a local isolate; Aspergillus niger USM AI 1. Optimization of enzymes production was carried out and the optimum conditions obtained were 0.5 kg substrate (a combination of PKC and sugarcane baggase at 1:1 ratio); 70% (w/w) moisture content; incubated at 30°C; aeration at 4.0 L/heg fermented substrate for 5 min and mixing at 0.5 rpm for 5 min. Under the optimum SSF conditions, the CMCase, xylanase and FPase activities obtained were 62.6 U/g, 390.8 U/g and 3.4 U/g, respectively. This represents about 9.6, 7.8 and 3.4 folds increased in their respective enzymes activities after the optimization process. When comparative study on the enzymes production was performed using Trichoderma reesei, the CMCase, xylanase and FPase activities obtained were about 57.3 U/g, 563.0 U/g and 2.2 U/g, respectively. The enzymes produced were used in the deinking studies of mixed office waste paper (MOW) and old newspaper (ONP) using newly developed pilot scale enzymatic deinking system. Optimization of enzymatic deinking process was carried out and the optimum conditions obtained for MOW were pulping at 2% consistency for 60 min; enzymatic hydrolysis at 50°C, pH 5.5, 0.8 U of CMCase and 4.0 U of xylanase per gram of air