Ultrasonic hyperactivation of cellulase immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles

Synergistic effect between ultrasound and fierce mechanical activation towards mineral extraction: A case study of ZnO ore

Though the positive role of ultrasound has been confirmed in the mineral extraction, its potential towards fiercely mechanically-activated mineral was not yet mentioned. In this study, as a novel mechanical activation style, bead milling (BM) was presented and ZnO ore was selected to determine its effectiveness. Results showed that median particle size of ZnO ore could be pulverized to as low as 1/164 of its original value (from ∼29.2 μm to ∼178 nm), indicating much higher activation potential of BM than that of conventional ball milling. Besides, structure destruction, even phase transformation with the direct participation of airborne CO₂ occurred. All these processes rendered the superior activation capacity of BM. In view of the extraction promotion, the combination of ultrasound and BM exerted more pronounced effect than those of individual ones, indicating the synergistic effect between extra energy input (by ultrasound) and inner energy storage (by fierce BM). The classic shrinking core model with the product layer diffusion as the rate-controlling step was found to well model the extraction kinetics. The modeling disclosed high capability of ultrasound and BM combination in decreasing the activation energy (E_a) (from 54.6 kJ/mol to 26.4 kJ/mol), while ultrasound, BM could only decrease the E_a to 44.9 kJ/mol, 41.5 kJ/mol, respectively. The dual roles of ultrasound were specially highlighted: (i) participation in the extraction process via direct energy input, (ii) regulation of the aggregation that the activated ore suspension was confronted with.

Synergistic effect of ultrasonication and co-immobilized enzymes on tomato peels for lycopene extraction

In the present work, tomato peels were pre-treated using combination of ultrasound and enzyme co-immobilized amino-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (AMNPs) for the efficient release of lycopene. To achieve maximum activity of enzymes in the co-immobilized form, optimization of several parameters were carried out. Moreover, the influence of ultrasound and enzyme co-immobilized magnetic nanoparticles on lycopene release was studied. Maximum lycopene release was obtained at 3% (w/w) enzyme co-immobilized AMNPs, pH 5.0, temperature of 50 °C, at 10 W ultrasound power and 20 min incubation time. After enzymatic pre-treatment, lycopene from the pre-treated mixture was extracted and separated using tri-solvent extraction method. Maximum recovery of lycopene using solvent extraction was obtained at 50 °C, 90 min of incubation time and agitation speed of 150 rpm. The presence of lycopene in the extract was confirmed by FT-IR, UV-vis spectroscopy and HPLC analysis. The co-immobilized bio-catalyst showed excellent reusability giving more than 50% lycopene yield even after 6th cycles of reuse.

Immobilization of cellulase on a core-shell structured metal-organic framework composites: Better inhibitors tolerance and easier recycling

For the first time, cellulase was successfully immobilized on a magnetic core-shell metal-organic framework (MOF) material, UIO-66-NH₂. The as-prepared immobilized cellulase demonstrated a high protein loading efficiency of 126.2 g/g support and a high enzyme activity recovery of 78.4%. Cellulase immobilized on magnetic UIO-66-NH₂ exhibited a superior performance in terms of pH stability, thermal stability and catalytic efficiency compared to its free form. Notably, immobilized cellulase could be recycled for up to 5 consecutive runs. Furthermore, compared to free cellulase, immobilized cellulase showed better tolerance to formic acid and vanillin, two typical inhibitors found in lignocellulosic prehydrolysates. In the presence of 5 g/L of formic acid and vanillin, immobilized cellulase demonstrated 16.8% and 21.5% higher activity than free enzyme, respectively, and its improvement in hydrolysis yield was 18.7% and 19.6% respectively. This is firstly confirmed that immobilization can alleviate the inhibitory effects of certain pretreatment inhibitors on cellulase.

Simultaneous glucose production from cellulose and fouling reduction using a magnetic responsive membrane reactor with superparamagnetic nanoparticles carrying cellulolytic enzymes

This work aimed at investigating simultaneous hydrolysis of cellulose and in-situ foulant degradation in a cellulose fed superparamagnetic biocatalytic membrane reactor (BMR^SP). In this reactor, a dynamic layer of superparamagnetic bionanocomposites with immobilized cellulolytic enzymes were reversibly immobilized on superparamagnetic polymeric membrane using an external magnetic field. The formation of a dynamic layer of bionanocomposites on the membrane helped to prevent direct membrane-foulant interaction. Due to in-situ biocatalysis, there was limited filtration resistance. Simultaneous separation of the product helped to avoid enzyme product inhibition, achieve constant reaction rate over time and 50% higher enzyme efficiency than batch reactor. Stable enzyme immobilization and the ability to keep enzyme in the system for long period helped to achieve continuous productivity at very low enzyme but high solid loading, while also reducing the extent of membrane fouling. Hence, the BMR^SP paves a path for sustainable production of bioethanol from the cheaply available lignocellulose.

Co-immobilization of cellulase and lysozyme on amino-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles: An activity-tunable biocatalyst for extraction of lipids from microalgae

An activity-tunable biocatalyst for Nannochloropsis sp. cell-walls degradation was prepared by co-immobilization of cellulase and lysozyme on the surface of amino-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) employing glutaraldehyde. The competition between cellulase and lysozyme during immobilization was caused by the limited active sites of the MNPs. The maximum recovery of activities (cellulase: 78.9% and lysozyme: 69.6%) were achieved due to synergistic effects during dual-enzyme co-immobilization. The thermal stability in terms of half-life of the co-immobilized enzymes was three times higher than that in free form and had higher catalytic efficiency for hydrolysis of cell walls. Moreover, the co-immobilized enzymes showed greater thermal stability and wider pH tolerance than free enzymes under harsh conditions. Furthermore, the co-immobilized enzymes retained up to 60% of the residual activity after being recycled 6 times. This study provides a feasible approach for the industrialization of enzyme during cell-walls disruption and lipids extraction from Nannochloropsis sp.

Immobilization of Aspergillus niger cellulase on multiwall carbon nanotubes for cellulose hydrolysis

In present study, Aspergillus niger cellulase was immobilized onto functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via carbodiimide coupling. MWCNTs offer unique advantages including enhanced electronics properties, a large edge to basal plane ratio, rapid electrode kinetics and it's possess higher tensile strength properties due to their structural arrangements. The immobilization was confirmed by FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and SEM (scanning electron microscope). The bionanoconjugates prepared under optimized condition retained 85% activity with improved pH and thermal stability. The t_1/2 of immobilized cellulase at 70 °C was four fold higher than free enzyme. The Km value indicates that affinity of bionanoconjugates towards substrate has increased by two times. The preparation could be reused ten times without much loss in enzyme activity. The enhanced catalytic efficiency, stability and reusability makes it useful for efficient cellulose hydrolysis.

Extraction and characterization of chitosan from prawn shell waste and its conjugation with cutinase for enhanced thermo-stability

The present article describes extraction of chitosan from prawn shells waste and its application in thermal stabilization of Fusarium sp. ICT SAC1 cutinase by non-covalent and covalent conjugation. Extracted chitosan represented 78.40% degree of deacetylation (DDA), a molecular weight of 173 kDa and was soluble in 1% acetic acid with 2.8 ± 0.15% insoluble matter. The structural (FTIR, NMR and XRD) and thermal characterization (DSC and TGA) indicated unique properties for chitosan. Plausible chitosan structure was also deduced. The water and fat binding capacities were 923% and 598.05% while 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrzyl radicals scavenging activity was 60.62 and 11.83 μM Trolox-Equivalent/ml. The K_m and V_max values of free cutinase were 0.82 mM and 20.64 mM/min which increased by 14.63 and 17.07%; and 27.18 and 43.94% after non-covalent and covalent conjugation, respectively. A marginal increment in thermal inactivation constants and energy (k_d, t_1/2, D and E_d value) were also noticed for cutinase-chitosan conjugates. The enthalpy, free energy and entropy values increased marginally in covalent conjugate vis-à-vis non-covalent conjugated and free cutinase. A reduction in α-helix, random coils and β-sheets content was noted after conjugation.

Cellulose as a template to fabricate a cellulase-immobilized composite with high bioactivity and reusability

Herein, a new strategy was developed to fabricate an oriented cellulase/chitosan/Fe₃O₄composite, which possesses extremely high activity, reusability, and stability.

Ultrasound assisted intensification of enzyme activity and its properties: a mini-review

Over the last decade, ultrasound technique has emerged as the potential technology which shows large applications in food and biotechnology processes. Earlier, ultrasound has been employed as a method of enzyme inactivation but recently, it has been found that ultrasound does not inactivate all enzymes, particularly, under mild conditions. It has been shown that the use of ultrasonic treatment at appropriate frequencies and intensity levels can lead to enhanced enzyme activity due to favourable conformational changes in protein molecules without altering its structural integrity. The present review article gives an overview of influence of ultrasound irradiation parameters (intensity, duty cycle and frequency) and enzyme related factors (enzyme concentration, temperature and pH) on the catalytic activity of enzyme during ultrasound treatment. Also, it includes the effect of ultrasound on thermal kinetic parameters and Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters (k_m and V_max) of enzymes. Further, in this review, the physical and chemical effects of ultrasound on enzyme have been correlated with thermodynamic parameters (enthalpy and entropy). Various techniques used for investigating the conformation changes in enzyme after sonication have been highlighted. At the end, different techniques of immobilization for ultrasound treated enzyme have been summarized.