Simultaneous Biological Pretreatment and Saccharification of Rice Straw by Ligninolytic Enzymes from Panus neostrigosus I9 and Commercial Cellulase

The utilization of rice straw for biofuel production is limited by its composition. The pretreatment process is required to improve the enzymatic accessibility of polysaccharides in the biomass prior to enzymatic saccharification. In this study, simultaneous biological pretreatment and saccharification (SPS) of rice straw starting from laccase production by Panus neostrigosus I9 was operated in a 2-L fermenter. It was found that fungal physiology was strongly influenced by the agitation, and that the highest laccase production was obtained at an agitation speed of 750 rpm (209.96 ± 0.34 U/L). The dilution rate of 0.05 h−1 was set in continuous fermentation which resulted in laccase activity of 678.49 ± 20.39 U/L, approximately three times higher than that in batch culture. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to achieve the condition for maximum percentage of delignification. The maximum percentage of delignification of 45.55% was accomplished after pretreatment of rice straw with laccase enzyme 39.40 U/g rice straw at 43.70 °C for 11.19 h. Reducing sugar of 3.85 ± 0.15 g/L was obtained from the digested rice straw in a SPS reactor, while non-pretreated rice straw gave only 1.13 ± 0.10 g/L within 12 h of incubation. The results indicated that simultaneous biological pretreatment and saccharification (SPS) of rice straw by laccase helped to improve the accessibility of cellulose by cellulolytic enzymes.

Effects on Lignin Redistribution in Eucalyptus globulus Fibres Pre-Treated by Steam Explosion: A Microscale Study to Cellulose Accessibility

The objective of this study was to investigate structural changes and lignin redistribution in Eucalyptus globulus pre-treated by steam explosion under different degrees of severity (S0), in order to evaluate their effect on cellulose accessibility by enzymatic hydrolysis. Approximately 87.7% to 98.5% of original glucans were retained in the pre-treated material. Glucose yields after the enzymatic hydrolysis of pre-treated material improved from 19.4% to 85.1% when S0 was increased from 8.53 to 10.42. One of the main reasons for the increase in glucose yield was the redistribution of lignin as micro-particles were deposited on the surface and interior of the fibre cell wall. This information was confirmed by laser scanning confocal fluorescence and FT-IR imaging; these microscopic techniques show changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of pre-treated fibres. In addition, the results allowed the construction of an explanatory model for microscale understanding of the enzymatic accessibility mechanism in the pre-treated lignocellulose.

Unrevealing model compounds of soil conditioners impacts on the wheat straw autohydrolysis efficiency and enzymatic hydrolysis

Background: Soil-derived exogenous ash (EA) poses a challenge toward lignocellulosics autohydrolysis due to its buffering capacity. Previous works focusing on this phenomenon have failed to also investigate the role that soluble salts, and organic matter plays in this system. Herein, sodium phosphate and sodium humate were employed as model buffering compounds representing soluble salts and organic matter and dosed into a de-ashed wheat straw (DWS) autohydrolysis process to show the potential impacts of WS attached soil conditioners on the WS autohydrolysis efficiency which would further affect the enzymatic digestibility of autohydrolyzed WS.Results: Results showed that with the increasing loadings of sodium phosphate and sodium humate resulted in elevated pH values (from 4.0 to 5.1 and from 4.1 to 4.7, respectively). Meanwhile, the reductions of xylan removal yields from ~84.3-61.4% to 72.3-53.0% by loading (1~30 g/L) sodium phosphate and sodium humate during WS autohydrolysis lead to a significant decrease of cellulose accessibilities which finally lead to a reduction of the enzymatic digestibility of autohydrolyzed WS from ~75.4-77.2% to 47.3-57.7%.Conclusion: The existence of different types soil conditioner model compounds result in various component fractions from autohydrolyzed WS in the process of autohydrolysis. A lack of sufficient xylan removal was found to drive the significant decrease in enzymatic accessibility. The results demonstrated the various effects of two typical tested soil conditioners on WS autohydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Unrevealing Model Compounds of Soil Conditioners Impacts on the Wheat Straw Autohydrolysis Efficiency and Enzymatic Hydrolysis

Background: Soil-derived exogenous ash (EA) poses a challenge toward lignocellulosics autohydrolysis due to its buffering capacity. Previous works focusing on this phenomenon have failed to also investigate the role that soluble salts, and organic matter plays in this system. Herein, sodium phosphate and sodium humate were employed as model buffering compounds representing soluble salts and organic matter and dosed into a de-ashed wheat straw (DWS) autohydrolysis process to show the potential impacts of WS attached soil conditioners on the WS autohydrolysis efficiency which would further affect the enzymatic digestibility of autohydrolyzed WS.Results: Results showed that with the increasing loadings of sodium phosphate and sodium humate resulted in elevated pH values (from 4.0 to 5.1 and from 4.1 to 4.7, respectively). Meanwhile, the reductions of xylan removal yields from ~ 84.3–61.4% to 72.3–53.0% by loading (1 ~ 30 g/L) sodium phosphate and sodium humate during WS autohydrolysis lead to a significant decrease of cellulose accessibilities which finally lead to a reduction of the enzymatic digestibility of autohydrolyzed WS from ~ 75.4–77.2% to 47.3–57.7%.Conclusion: The existence of different types soil conditioner model compounds result in various component fractions from autohydrolyzed WS in the process of autohydrolysis. A lack of sufficient xylan removal was found to drive the significant decrease in enzymatic accessibility. The results demonstrated the various effects of two typical tested soil conditioners on WS autohydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Enhancing enzymatic digestibility of waste wheat straw by presoaking to reduce the ash-influencing effect on autohydrolysis

Background The acid buffering capacity of high free ash in waste wheat straw (WWS) has been revealed to be a significant hindrance on the efficiency of autohydrolysis pretreatment. Previous researches have mainly relied on washing to eliminate the influence of ash, and the underlying mechanism of the ash influencing was not extensively investigated. Presently, studies have found that cations can destroy the acid buffering capacity of ash through cation exchange. Herein, different cations were applied to presoak WWS with the aim to overcome the negative effects of ash on autohydrolysis efficiency, further improving its enzymatic digestibility. Results Results showed that cations can be adsorbed on the surface of the material by electrostatic adsorption to change the acid buffering capacity of WWS. The acid buffering capacity of 120 mM Fe2+ presoaked WWS is reduced from 226.3 mmol/pH-kg of original WWS to 79.3 mmol/pH-kg. This reduced the autohydrolysis pretreatment medium pH from 5.7 to 3.8 and promoted the removal of xylan from 61.7 to 83.7%. In addition, the enzymatic digestibility of WWS was enhanced from 49.7 to 86.3% by presoaking with 120 mM Fe2+ solution. The relationship between enzymatic accessibility and hydrophobicity with enzymatic digestibility of the autohydrolyzed WWS was analyzed. Conclusions The results showed that the acid buffering capacity of the high free ash was detrimental for the autohydrolysis efficiency of WWS. After WWS was presoaked with different cations, the acid buffering capacity of ash was weakened by cation exchange and electrostatic adsorption, which improved the autohydrolysis efficiency. The results expound that the enzymatic digestibility of WWS can be enhanced through presoaking to reduce the ash-influencing effect on autohydrolysis.