Exopolysaccharides: Production and Application in Industrial Wastewater Treatment
In recent decades, polysaccharide molecules of plant, bacterial, and fungal origin have been extensively researched due to their multi functionality. Various kinds of polysaccharides produced by plants, viz. cellulose, pectin, and starch; algae, viz. agar, alginate, and carrageenan; and bacteria, viz. alginate, dextran, gellan, pullulan, and xanthan gum) are commonly used as food additives for their gelling, stabilizing, or thickening properties (Sutherland IW. Microbiology SGM 147:3 9, 2001a) Both prokaryotes and eukaryotes are able to produce exopolysaccharides (EPSs) prokaryotes such as eubacteria and archaebacteria and eukaryotes such as phytoplankton, fungi, and algae have now got more research attention (Houghton J, Quarmby J, Stephenson T. Water Sci Technol 44(2):373 379, 2001) Bacteria carry the EPS as their metabolic products which accumulate on the cell surface (Kumar AS, Mody K, Jha B. J Basic Microbiol 47:103 117, 2007a) The composition of EPS has a variety of organic and inorganic substances which have structural variable like either homopolysaccharides such as dextran, mutan, and levan or heteropolysaccharides. Application of various nano material, prepared as bionanoparticles, helpful to treat industrial waste water.