Potential Application of Agro-Industrial Byproduct for Bacterial Cellulose Production; Its Challenges and Emerging Trends for Food Packaging

Most packaging used today is made of plastic, which is produced from fossil-based polymers. In terms of its ease of processing and cheapness, plastic is non-biodegradable. Apart from being a plastic substitute, cellulose-based packaging is bio-based and sustainable. Cellulose is commonly generated from vascular plants. However, numerous chemicals are required for cellulose isolation and purification. For plant cellulose replacement, bacterial cellulose is considered as the favorable resources. Bacterial cellulose, also well known as microbial cellulose, is the cellulose produced by the activity of non-pathogen gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria in the substrate containing carbon and nitrogen. Possessing a three-dimensional nano-structure, high reactive functional groups, high mechanical strength properties, and bacterial cellulose attracts much attention for research work or commercial purposes. However, Hestrin-Schramm, the synthetic or considered as standard medium for bacterial cellulose production, is expensive. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in searching for carbon and nitrogen sources as an alternative to synthetic bacterial growth media. Agro-industrial byproducts are derived from agriculture and food industry processing. Rich in carbohydrates and protein, these resources are suitable for bacterial cellulose production. This chapter aims to describe the agro-industrial residues for bacterial cellulose production and their recent possible application for food packaging.