Modeling of Pretreatment Condition of Extrusion-Pretreated Prairie Cordgrass and Corn Stover with Poly (Oxyethylen)20 Sorbitan Monolaurate

Newly isolated Penicillium oxalicum A592-4B secretes enzymes that degrade milled rice straw with high efficiency

An enzyme producing micro-organism, which can directly saccharify rice straw that has only been crushed without undergoing the current acid or alkaline pretreatment, was found. From the homology with the ITS, 28S rDNA sequence, the strain named A592-4B was identified as Penicillium oxalicum. Activities of the A592-4B enzymes and commercial enzyme preparations were compared by Novozymes Cellic CTec2 and Genencore GC220. In the present experimental condition, activity of A592-4B enzymes was 2.6 times higher than that of CTec2 for degrading milled rice straw. Furthermore, even when a quarter amount of A592-4B enzyme was applied to the rice straw, the conversion rate was still higher than that by CTec2. By utilizing A592-4B enzymes, improved lignocellulose degradation yields can be achieved without pre-treatment of the substrates; thus, contributing to cost reduction as well as reducing environmental burden.

Enhanced bioethanol production from pretreated corn stover via multi-positive effect of casein micelles

Casein polypeptides containing substructures of αs1-casein, β-casein, k-casein, αs2-casein were used as a lignin-blocker at above critical micelles concentration to improve the bioethanol production of dilute acid, lime, alkali, extrusion and AFEX pretreated corn stover (CS). Application of 0.5 g/g glucan of casein was found to effectively increase the glucose yield of CS pretreated with dilute acid, lime, alkali, extrusion and AFEX by 31.9%, 17.0%, 22.7%, 29.5%, and 17.4%, respectively with no positive impact on Avicel. Consequently 96 h simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of these hydrolysates reduced the fermentation period by up to 48 h and increased the theoretical yield of ethanol by 8.48-33.7% compared to control. Application of casein during saccharification reduced the enzyme utilization by 33.0%. Recycling of hydrolysate from casein-treated CS for a 2nd round hydrolysis resulted in average glucose yield of 36.4% compared to 29.0% control.

Enzyme recycling in a simultaneous and separate saccharification and fermentation of corn stover: a comparison between the effect of polymeric micelles of surfactants and polypeptides

The efficacy of enzyme recycling in simultaneous (SSF) and separate (SHF) saccharification and fermentation of corn stover was evaluated with the use of novel enzyme stabilizers of casein, Tween20 and polymeric micelles (PMs) of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-casein and PEG-Tween20. Amphiphiles were added to maximize the percentage of enzyme remaining in fermented liquor that could be recycled twice back into the process. With no additive, in SHF the ethanol yield was declined by 64.0% and 80.0% after the first and second recycling, respectively. Application of PMs of PEG-casein in one cycle of SHF significantly improved the theoretical ethanol yield from 0.49 ± 0.00 to 0.91 ± 0.00 g/g compared to when only casein (0.66 ± 0.00 g/g), Tween 20 (0.53 ± 0.00 g/g) and Tween 20-PEG (0.77 ± 0.08 g/g) were used. PMs of PEG-Tween and PEG-casein also improved enzyme recycling, such that the ethanol yield was improved by 50% and 108% beyond that obtained with Tween and casein, respectively.

Analysis of casein biopolymers adsorption to lignocellulosic biomass as a potential cellulase stabilizer

Although lignocellulosic materials have a good potential to substitute current feedstocks used for ethanol production, conversion of these materials to fermentable sugars is still not economical through enzymatic hydrolysis. High cost of cellulase has prompted research to explore techniques that can prevent from enzyme deactivation. Colloidal proteins of casein can form monolayers on hydrophobic surfaces that alleviate the de-activation of protein of interest. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), capillary electrophoresis (CE), and Kjeldahl and BSA protein assays were used to investigate the unknown mechanism of action of induced cellulase activity during hydrolysis of casein-treated biomass. Adsorption of casein to biomass was observed with all of the analytical techniques used and varied depending on the pretreatment techniques of biomass. FT-IR analysis of amides I and II suggested that the substructure of protein from casein or skim milk were deformed at the time of contact with biomass. With no additive, the majority of one of the cellulase mono-component, 97.1 ± 1.1, was adsorbed to CS within 24 h, this adsorption was irreversible and increased by 2% after 72 h. However, biomass treatment with skim-milk and casein reduced the adsorption to 32.9% ± 6.0 and 82.8% ± 6.0, respectively.