cellulase and maleic-acid

To reduce the distillation costs of cellulosic ethanol, it is necessary to produce high sugar titers in the enzymatic saccharification step. To obtain high sugar titers, high biomass loadings of lignocellulose are necessary. In this study, to overcome the low saccharification yields and the low operability of high biomass loadings, a fed-batch saccharification process was developed using an enzyme reactor that was designed and built in-house. After optimizing the cellulase and biomass feeding profiles and the agitation speed, 132.6 g/L glucose and 76.0% theoretical maximum glucose were obtained from the 60 h saccharification of maleic acid-pretreated rice straw at a 30% (w/v) solids loading with 15 filter paper units (FPU) of Cellic CTec2/g glucan. This study demonstrated that through the proper optimization of fed-batch saccharification, both high sugar titers and high saccharification yields are possible, even with using the high solids loading (i.e., ≥30%) with the moderate enzyme loading (i.e., <15 FPU/g glucan). These results could be contributed to improving economic feasibility of the high solids saccharification process in cellulosic fuel and chemical production.

Topics: Biomass; Cellulase; Glucose; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Lignin; Maleates; Oryza

The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of different organic acids (maleic, succinic, and oxalic acid) on enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation yields of wheat straw. It was also aimed to optimize the process conditions (temperature, acid concentration, and pretreatment time) by using response surface methodology (RSM). In line with this objective, the wheat straw samples were pretreated at three different temperatures (170, 190, and 210°C), acid concentrations (1%, 3%, and 5%) and pretreatment time (10, 20, and 30 min). The findings show that at extreme pretreatment conditions, xylose was solubilized in liquid phase, causing an increase in cellulose and lignin content of biomass. Enzymatic hydrolysis experiments revealed that maleic and oxalic acids were quite effective at achieving high sugar yields (>90%) from wheat straw. In contrast, the highest sugar yields were 50-60%, when the samples were pretreated with succinic acid, indicating that succinic acid was not as effective. The optimum process conditions for maleic acid were, 210°C, 1.08% acid concentration, and 19.8 min; for succinic acid 210°C, 5% acid concentration, and 30 min; for oxalic acid 210°C, 3.6% acid concentration, and 16.3 min. The ethanol yields obtained at optimum conditions were 80, 79, and 59% for maleic, oxalic and succinic acid, respectively. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:1487-1493, 2016.

Topics: Cellulase; Ethanol; Fermentation; Hydrolysis; Maleates; Oxalates; Succinates; Temperature; Triticum

Saccharification and adsorption characteristics of native and modified cellulases were investigated. Copolymers, containing polyoxyalkylene and maleic anhydride (MA) were used to modify cellulase. Amino groups of the cellulase were covalently coupled with the MA. As the degree of modification (DM) increased, the activity of modified cellulase slightly decreased. At the maximum DM, the modified cellulase activity retained more than 75% of the unmodified native cellulase activity. In saccharification, native cellulase rapidly adsorbed onto the substrate at initial reaction time. Native cellulase adsorbed tightly onto the substrate surface and did not desorb as reaction time proceeded. The strong adsorption of cellulase onto the substrate can, however, be controlled by the modification. As the hydrophilicity of modified cellulase increased, free modified enzyme concentration also increased. As a result, the conversion rate of modified cellulase was higher than the native one.

Topics: Adsorption; Cellulase; Cellulose; Fungal Proteins; Hydrolysis; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Maleates; Polymers; Propylene Glycols; Surface-Active Agents; Trichoderma