Screening and identifying strain of bio-pulping and degumming of the sisal and its preliminary application

To achieve bio-pulping or degumming of the sisal, a strain was screened from the grown soil and retting water of the sisal. It was characterized as Bacillus subtilis by testing the strain morphology, physiology, biochemistry and the 16s rDNA sequences and named Bacillus subtilis B2. It was utilized to degum the sisal and the result showed that the strain had a good characteristic of degumming, which took three days to complete degumming, and the weight-loss rate of sisal was 36%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the pectin in the sisal was mostly degraded, and the fibre was mostly separated.