Degradation of sugar colourants by the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium

Abstract

Colour in sugar industry consists in a complex mixture of different types of colouranfs . The most important being: (1) phenolic compounds coming from the cane plant, (2) caramels which are produced by thermal degradation and condensation reactions of sugars and (3) melanoidins formed from sugar-amino acid reactions via the Maillard reaction. During refining process colourants are removed, at least in part, from the "Iugar liquor by anion-exchange resins. The regeneration of the resins produces an effluent containing those colourants. In order to study the ability of P. chrysosporium to degrade each family of colourant, different culture media specifically enriched with each colourant type were assayed. The results showed that the organism was able to degrade all kinds of tested colourants.