Efficient production of fermentable sugars from oil palm empty fruit bunch by combined use of acid and whole cell culture-catalyzed hydrolyses

Biosynthesis of Commodity Chemicals From Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Lignin

Lignin is one of the most abundant natural resources that can be exploited for the bioproduction of value-added commodity chemicals. Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFBs), byproducts of palm oil production, are abundant lignocellulosic biomass but largely used for energy and regarded as waste. Pretreatment of OPEFB lignin can yield a mixture of aromatic compounds that can potentially serve as substrates to produce commercially important chemicals. However, separation of the mixture into desired individual substrates is required, which involves expensive steps that undermine the utility of OPEFB lignin. Here, we report successful engineering of microbial hosts that can directly utilize heterogeneous mixtures derived from OPEFB lignin to produce commodity chemicals, adipic acid and levulinic acid. Furthermore, the corresponding bioconversion pathway was placed under a genetic controller to autonomously activate the conversion process as the cells are fed with a depolymerized OPEFB lignin mixture. This study demonstrates a simple, one-pot biosynthesis approach that directly utilizes derivatives of agricultural waste to produce commodity chemicals.

Microbial production of rhamnolipids using sugars as carbon sources

Rhamnolipids are a class of biosurfactants with effective surface-active properties. The high cost of microbial production of rhamnolipids largely affects their commercial applications. To reduce the production post, research has been carried out in screening more powerful strains, engineering microbes with higher biosurfactant yields and exploring cheaper substrates to reduce the production cost. Extensive refining is required for biosurfactant production using oils and oil-containing wastes, necessitating the use of complex and expensive biosurfactant recovery methods such as extraction with solvents or acid precipitation. As raw materials normally can account for 10-30% of the overall production cost, sugars have been proven to be an alternative carbon source for microbial production of rhamnolipids due to its lower costs and straightforward processing techniques. Studies have thus been focused on using tropical agroindustrial crop residues as renewable substrates. Herein, we reviewed studies that are using sugar-containing substrates as carbon sources for producing rhamnolipids. We speculate that sugars derived from agricultural wastes rich in cellulose and sugar-containing wastes are potential carbon sources in fermentation while challenges still remain in large scales.

Isolation, characterization and application of a cellulose-degrading strain Neurospora crassa S1 from oil palm empty fruit bunch

Background

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a lignocellulosic waste produced in palm oil industry. EFB mainly consists of cellulose, hemicellulose (mainly xylan) and lignin and has a great potential to be reused. Converting EFB to fermentable sugars and value-added chemicals is a much better choice than treating EFB as waste.

Results

A cellulase-producing strain growing on oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) was isolated and identified as Neurospora crassa S1, which is able to produce cellulases using EFB as the sole carbon source. The strain started to secret cellulases into the medium after 24 h of cultivation at 30°C and reached its maximal cellulase activity at 240 h. Mass spectroscopy (MS) analysis showed that more than 50 proteins were secreted into the medium when EFB was used as the sole carbon source. Among them, 7 proteins were identified as putative enzymes associated with cellulose degradation. The whole cell culture of Neurospora crassa S1 was used to hydrolyze acid-treated EFB, giving a total sugar yield of 83.2%, which is comparable with that (82.0%) using a well-known cellulase producer Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 (ATCC56765).

Conclusion

Neurospora crassa S1 is a commercially promising native cellulase producer for EFB hydrolysis especially when the sugars obtained are to be fermented to products that require use of non-genetically engineered strains.