ABSTRACT
The kinetic of the production of glucose from pineapple using Aspergillus niger species isolated from fresh groundnut seed has been investigated. Soluble sugar was extracted from the pineapple peel, the peel was then dilignified and subsequently enzymatic hydrolysis of the polysaccharides to glucose was conducted. Effect of the operational parameters such as enzyme loading, substrate concentration, pH of buffer, particle size of substrate and incubation temperature on the hydrolysis of pineapple peel to glucose was studied in a batch process. Within the limits of experimental conditions, the results show that an optimum temperature of 45 ?C, optimum pH range of 3.8-4.2 and optimum particle size of 100-150 μm were best conditions for the process. Furthermore, as substrate concentration increases from 10 g/l to 35 g/l, glucose concentration increases from 0.813 g/l to 2.32 g/l and yield was 8.13% and 6.63% respectively after an incubation time of two hours. Michaelis-Menten kinetic model was found to adequately represent the experimental data having a standard deviation of 0.001. The corresponding kinetic parameters are: maximum rate of reaction, rmax = 0.021 g/l.s and Michaelis-Menten constant, KM =44.91 g/l at a process condition of 45 ?C and pH 4.0.