Lignin: biosynthesis, application, and biodegradation

Surfactants in biorefineries: Role, challenges & perspectives

The use of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) as feedstock has received increasing attention as an alternative to fossil-based refineries. Initial steps such as pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis are essential to breakdown the complex structure of LCB to make the sugar molecules available to obtain bioproducts by fermentation. However, these steps increase the cost of the bioproduct and often reduces its competitiveness against synthetic products. Currently, the use of surfactants has shown considerable potential to enhance lignocellulosic biomass processing. This review addresses the main mechanisms and role of surfactants as key molecules in various steps of biorefinery processes, viz., increasing the removal of lignin and hemicellulose during the pretreatments, increasing enzymatic stability and enhancing the accessibility of enzymes to the polymeric fractions, and improving the downstream process during fermentation. Further, technical advances, challenges in application of surfactants, and future perspectives to augment the production of several high value-added bioproducts have been discussed.

Humins from Biorefineries as Thermoreactive Macromolecular Systems

Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass often brings about the formation of several side products. Among these, a black and viscous coproduct known as humins is formed on acidic treatment of polysaccharides. To improve the efficiency of this process from an economical and environmental perspective, new solutions for humins valorization are urgently needed. This work focuses on the comprehensive understanding of humins with special emphasis on their structure/properties relationships. Humins were subjected to different thermal treatments and characterized by means of structural, thermoanalytical, and rheological investigations. The structure and composition of humins are very diverse and depend on the thermochemical conditions. On sufficient heating, humins change into a nonreversible and more branched furanic structure with a relatively high glass-transition temperature (T_g >65 °C). Thus, humins can be easily processed for preparing thermoset-like resins.

Use of differential scanning calorimetry for structural analysis of fungally degraded wood

This paper assesses the potential use of differential scanning calorimetry for analyzing sound and decayed wood. With sound wood, this method permitted the detection of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin components as discrete peaks of combustion at defined temperatures. Characteristic changes in the calorimetric thermogram of birchwood (temperature of maxima, peak height, and peak area) were obtained from wood samples degraded by the basidiomycetes Fomes fomentarius and Piptoporus betulinus. Additional peaks in the thermograms of white rotted birchwood were assigned to lignin degradation products and to mycelium. Results obtained by the differential scanning calorimetry method are compared with those of chemical determination, with particular emphasis on Klason lignin.

Biological Bleaching of Chemical Pulps

Use of biotechnology in pulp bleaching has attracted considerable attention and achieved interesting results in recent years. Enzymes of the hemicellulolytic type, particularly xylan-attacking enzymes, xylanases are now used commercially in the mills for pulp treatment and subsequent incorporation into bleach sequences. The aims of the enzymatic treatment depend on the actual mill conditions and may be related to environmental demands, reduction of chemical costs or maintenance or even improvement of product quality. The use of oxidative enzymes from white-rot fungi, that can directly attack lignin, is a second-generation approach, which could produce larger chemical savings than xylanase but has not yet been developed to the full scale. It is being studied in several laboratories in Canada, Japan, the U.S.A. and Europe. Certain white-rot fungi can delignify kraft pulps increasing their brightness and their responsiveness to brightening with chemicals. The fungal treatments are too slow but the enzyme manganese peroxidase and laccase can also delignify pulps and enzymatic processes are likely to be easier to optimize and apply than the fungal treatments. Development work on laccase and manganese peroxidase continues. This article presents an overview of developments in the application of hemicellulase enzymes, lignin-oxidizing enzymes and white-rot fungi in bleaching of chemical pulps. The basic enzymology involved and the present knowledge of the mechanisms of the action of enzymes as well as the practical results and advantages obtained on the laboratory and industrial scale are discussed.

Extração e caracterização de xilanas de sabugos de milho

Neste trabalho, duas frações de xilana, denominadas xilana A e xilana B, foram isoladas a partir de sabugos de milho através de três processos diferentes, combinando métodos de extração aquosa, remoção de lipídeos, deslignificação e extração alcalina. Os produtos obtidos durante os processos foram analisados por termogravimetria. A etapa de deslignificação foi responsável por uma acentuada degradação dos polímeros, evidenciada por queda de rendimento e resistência térmica. Os espectros obtidos no infravermelho evidenciaram a ausência de ácidos urônicos na cadeia polimérica. As viscosidades intrínsecas obtidas para a xilana A (56 mL/g) e xilana B (75 mL/g) associadas aos resultados do infravermelho sugerem um número maior de grupos substituintes, constituídos basicamente por resíduos de L-arabinose, para a xilana B.

Microorganisms and enzymes involved in the degradation of plant fiber cell walls

One of natures most important biological processes is the degradation of lignocellulosic materials to carbon dioxide, water and humic substances. This implies possibilities to use biotechnology in the pulp and paper industry and consequently, the use of microorganisms and their enzymes to replace or supplement chemical methods is gaining interest. This chapter describes the structure of wood and the main wood components, cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignins. The enzyme and enzyme mechanisms used by fungi and bacteria to modify and degrade these components are described in detail. Techniques for how to assay for these enzyme activities are also described. The possibilities for biotechnology in the pulp and paper industry and other fiber utilizing industries based on these enzymes are discussed.

Pleurotus mushrooms. Part III. Biotransformations of natural lignocellulosic wastes: commercial applications and implications

Species of Pleurotus are endowed with the capacity to degrade unfermented natural lignino-cellulosic wastes. From the time the substrate is spawned until the end of cropping, there occurs a spectrum of qualitative and quantitative changes in the various substrate constituents, viz., cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, sugars, amino acids, phenols, ash, nitrogen, etc. In general, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are degraded, solubility of the substrate is increased, phenolic content is decreased, sugar and amino acid contents are increased, as is the ash content due to a constant utilization of the organic matter. The ability of Pleurotus to effect these degradative changes is discussed under both sterile (monoculture) and nonsterile culturing conditions. The enzymatic aspects affecting these various chemical changes in the lignino-cellulosic substrates are brought out. The various commercial applications and implications of the spent substrate, such as use as an upgraded form of ruminant feed, production of biogas, manufacture of paper/cardboard, recycling into Agaricus compost, garden fertilizer, production of single cell proteins, etc., are critically evaluated.

Anaerobic degradation of veratrylglycerol-beta-guaiacyl ether and guaiacoxyacetic acid by mixed rumen bacteria

Veratrylglycerol-beta-guaiacyl ether (0.2 g/liter), a lignin model compound, was found to be degraded by mixed rumen bacteria in a yeast extract medium under strictly anaerobic conditions to the extent of 19% within 24 h. Guaiacoxyacetic acid, 2-(o-methoxyphenoxy)ethanol, vanillic acid, and vanillin were detected as degradation products of veratrylglycerol-beta-guaiacyl ether by thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Guaiacoxyacetic acid (0.25 g/liter), when added into the medium as a substrate, was entirely degraded within 36 h, resulting in the formation of phenoxyacetic acid, guaiacol, and phenol. These results suggest that the beta-arylether bond, an important intermonomer linkage in lignin, can be cleaved completely by these rumen anaerobes.