Pullulan From Agricultural Waste Using Aureobasidium Pullulans and Its Applications: A Review

Abstract

Pullulan is an extracellular homopolysaccharide commercially produced by yeast-like fungus Aureobasidium pullulans. The interest in pullulan produced from industrial waste has significantly increased due to its applications in many industries. Pullulan has extensive applications in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and agricultural sectors. The primary limitation in the pullulan production is its high cost and limited yield. This made pullulan less useful for a variety of purposes. This study aims at the scope, limitations and future challenges in production of pullulan by using microbial sources. It will support more study on the application of diverse substrates, microorganisms, and their use in industrial sectors. This review will help to focus the interest on production of this complex polysaccharide and conduct experiments for the optimization of production parameters of the same. This may help to achieve a promising solution to the extraction of this polysaccharide overcoming the challenges and limitations.