A ten-day aerobic pre-treatment with T. viride, however, led to a
steady and highly efficient fermentation process as it was possible
to achieve an increase in pH, thus providing suitable conditions for
the subsequent anaerobic digestion. Beyond the 3rd day of aerobic
pre-treatment, pH started to rapidly increase reaching pH neutral
values after ten days of pre-incubation due to the decomposition
of organic acids, production of ammonia, and mineralization of
organic nitrogen resulting from microbial activity. The increase in
pH into the neutral range along with prolongation of
pre-incubation favored CMCase production reflected in significantly
higher activities compared to the samples with a
three-day aerobic pre-treatment (Fig. 6A).