| Sumario: | Sweet lemon is a major fruit belonging to the citrus family and widely used for the taste as well as for processing which generates a huge amount of peels and need to be utilized effectively to avoid the social as well as environmental ill impact caused by the same. Therefore, the present study was aimed to utilize peels for the production of bioenzyme using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Four different independent process parameters viz. jaggery, previous bioenzyme inoculum, yeast culture, and day of sample extraction were selected and the effect of these parameters on the production of bioenzyme was ascertained by central composite design. Jaggery concentration of 25.36%, previous bioenzyme inoculum concentration of 20%, yeast culture of 2%, and extraction day of 40 days were found optimum for low pH, minimum days of settling, maximum cellulolytic activity, and maximum laccase activity. Under these conditions pH 3.24, days of setting 40, cellulolytic activity of 454.2 U/mL and laccase activity of 0.21 U/mL was found. Further the FT-IR analysis of prepared bioenzyme has shown the presence of various important functional compounds with significance in various fields of bioremediation and bioenergy. Thus, the findings will help in the management of citrus waste with better return to the growers and processors.
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