Impact of bleaching on subcritical water- and Formosolv-pretreated tulip tree to enhance enzyme accessibility

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 145; pp. 128 - 132
• Main Authors: Myint, Aye Aye, Kim, Dae Sung, Lee, Hun Wook, Yoon, Junho, Choi, In-Gyu, Choi, Joon Weon, Lee, Youn-Woo
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Accessibility; Biofuels; Biological and medical sciences; Bleaching; Bleaching Agents; Cellulase - metabolism; Cellulase accessibility; Cellulose; Cellulose - chemistry; Cellulose - isolation & purification; Cellulose - metabolism; Cellulose microfibrils; Chemical Fractionation - methods; Enzymes; Formosolv process; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrogen Peroxide; Hydrolysis; Lignin - chemistry; Lignin - isolation & purification; Liriodendron - chemistry; Polysaccharides - chemistry; Polysaccharides - isolation & purification; Sawdust; Solubilization; Subcritical water pretreatment; Trees; Wood - chemistry; Subcritical water pretreatment; Hydrogen peroxide; Cellulose microfibrils; Formosolv process; Cellulase accessibility; Liriodendron tulipifera; Enzyme; Cellulose; Microfibril; Glycosylases; Cellulolytic enzyme; Bleaching; Cellulase; Dicotyledones; Glycosidases; Magnoliaceae; Angiospermae; Hydrolases; Hardwood forest tree; Spermatophyta; Pretreatment
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2013.03.069

•A novel method was developed for selectively fractionating of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin from a tulip tree.•The isolated cellulose (∼98% glucan) had 23-fold higher enzymatic accessibility than raw substrate at low enzyme loadings (5FPU/g of cellulose). A novel method was developed for fractionating cellulose microfibrils from forest residue (tulip tree sawdust) to enhance cellulose digestibility, particularly at minimum enzyme loadings. This method involved three main stages: selective hemicellulose solubilization by subcritical water (SCW) pretreatment, delignification of the SCW-pretreated solids using the Formosolv process, and deformylation/bleaching of the cellulose pulp with alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution. This process produced nearly 98% white cellulose microfibrils with 23-fold higher conversion to glucose as compared to the raw substrate after 72h of enzymatic hydrolysis. This study showed that cellulose swelling had the greatest effect on the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of delignified pulp obtained by the Formosolv process.