Utilization of corn steep liquor for biosynthesis of pullulan, an important exopolysaccharide

► Five agri-industrial wastes were evaluated for their use as sole nitrogen source. ► Process optimization yielded 88.59 g L−1 pullulan using CSL as sole nitrogen source. ► Use of CSL as nitrogen source has significant effect on cost of the final product. ► This may leads to development of cost effective technology for pullulan production. ► May also help in value addition and waste management of corn-starch industries.