Continuous harvest of cellulosic filament during cultivation of acetobacter xylinum

摘要

A shallow pan cultivation of Acetobactor xylinum has been studied using a continuous wind up roller to give swollen bacterial celulose (BC) fiament. The swollen filament was stretched with a twisting mode to remove water follwing the purifying procedures such as boiling in aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate and in aqueous soldium hydroxide, respectively. Modified BC filament containing residual N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) was also obtained, when A. xyliunum subcultured in GlcNAc medium was applied in a medium containing glucose and ammonium chloride. The BC and modified filaments showed higher tensile strength than those of cotton and rayon, but poorer elongation and relatively lower Young's modulus than those of cotton and rayon. Higher orientation of molecule, as shown by X-ray diffraction pattern analysis, was achieved by applying a heavier weight during drying procedure. The molecular weights of BC products were estimated viscometrically using copper-ammonium solvents.