Enzymatic saccharification of hydrogen peroxide-treated solids from hydrothermal processing of rice husks

Comparison of saccharification and fermentation of steam exploded rice straw and rice husk

BACKGROUND

Rice cultivation produces two waste streams, straw and husk, which could be exploited more effectively. Chemical pretreatment studies using rice residues have largely focussed on straw exploitation alone, and often at low substrate concentrations. Moreover, it is currently not known how rice husk, the more recalcitrant residue, responds to steam explosion without the addition of chemicals.

RESULTS

The aim of this study has been to systematically compare the effects of steam explosion severity on the enzymatic saccharification and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of rice straw and husk produced from a variety widely grown in Vietnam (Oryza sativa, cv. KhangDan18). Rice straw and husk were steam exploded (180-230 °C for 10 min) into hot water and washed to remove fermentation inhibitors. In both cases, pretreatment at 210 °C and above removed most of the noncellulosic sugars. Prolonged saccharification at high cellulase doses showed that rice straw could be saccharified most effectively after steam explosion at 210 °C for 10 min. In contrast, rice husk required more severe pretreatment conditions (220 °C for 10 min), and achieved a much lower yield (75 %), even at optimal conditions. Rice husk also required a higher cellulase dose for optimal saccharification (10 instead of 6 FPU/g DM). Hemicellulase addition failed to improve saccharification. Small pilot scale saccharification at 20 % (w/v) substrate loading in a 10 L high torque bioreactor resulted in similarly high glucose yields for straw (reaching 9 % w/v), but much less for husk. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation under optimal pretreatment and saccharification conditions showed similar trends, but the ethanol yield from the rice husk was less than 40 % of the theoretical yield.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite having similar carbohydrate compositions, pretreated rice husk is much less amenable to saccharification than pretreated rice straw. This is likely to attenuate its use as a biorefinery feedstock unless improvements can be made either in the feedstock through breeding and/or modern biotechnology, or in the pretreatment through the employment of improved or alternative technologies. Physiological differences in the overall chemistry or structure may provide clues to the nature of lignocellulosic recalcitrance.

Alkaline and alkaline peroxide pretreatments at mild temperature to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis of rice hulls and straw

The current study explores alkaline and alkaline peroxide pretreatments in order to achieve a method to improve saccharification of agricultural residues for ethanol production. The effects of reagent concentration and pretreatment time at 30°C and atmospheric pressure on biomass dissolution after the pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass were investigated. In fact, although all pretreatments tested improved enzymatic hydrolysis of native residues, the best results were not achieved for the highest biomass loss. The maximum conversions to reducing sugars in the hydrolysis stage of 77.5% and 92.6% were obtained for rice hulls and straw pretreated by alkaline peroxide (4%, 24h) and alkaline (1%, 48 h) methods, respectively. For both pretreated residues, the reduction to more than half the recommended enzyme loading allowed obtaining more than 94% the reducing sugars attained with the recommended dose.

Synergistic effect of rice husk addition on hydrothermal treatment of sewage sludge: fate and environmental risk of heavy metals

Hydrothermal treatment (HTT) at 200°C was applied to immobilize heavy metals (HMs) and the effect of rice husk (RH) addition was investigated based on total HMs concentration, fractionation and leaching tests. The results indicated that a synergistic effect of RH addition and HTT could be achieved on reducing the risk of HMs from medium and low risk to no risk. Metals were redistributed and transformed from weakly bounded state to stable state during the HTT process under RH addition. Notably at a RH/sludge ratio of 1/1.75 (d.w.), all the HMs showed no eco-toxicity and no leaching toxicity, with the concentrations of leachable Cr, Ni, Cu and Cd decreased by 17%, 89%, 95% and 93%, respectively. This synergistic effect of RH addition and HTT on the risk reduction of HMs implies that HTT process with RH addition could be a promising and safe disposal technology for sewage sludge treatment in practice.

Production of oligosaccharides and sugars from rye straw: a kinetic approach

Following the biorefinery philosophy, the non-isothermal autohydrolysis of rye straw (an agroindustrial byproduct) was carried out to obtain liquors containing substituted xylooligosaccharides and solids enriched in cellulose (suitable as substrates for further enzymatic hydrolysis). The effects of temperature (in the range 185-220 degrees C) on the composition of solids and liquid phases were evaluated, and kinetic models were developed. When operation was carried out at 208 degrees C, 69.2% of the initial xylan was converted into xylooligosaccharides, leading to reaction liquors containing up to 22.4 g oligosaccharides/L. The effects of treatments on the DP of the target products and on their substituents were also measured. At 208 degrees C, the percentages of XOS having DP2-4, DP5-6 and DP>6 were 24.8%, 22.4% and 54.8%, respectively. Under selected conditions, the molar ratio Xyl:Ac:UA of the oligomers was 10:1.54:0.50. Finally, when the solid was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis, 70.6% of cellulose and 63.8% of xylan were saccharified after 48 h.

Valorisation of a leguminous species, Sesbania grandiflora, by means of hydrothermal fractionation

For the purpose of hydrolysing hemicelluloses to oligomers and monomers, Sesbania grandiflora samples were subjected to isothermal autohydrolysis in the temperatures ranging from 145 degrees C to 190 degrees C, using a solid to liquid ratio of 8 and reaction times up to 7.5 h. Kinetic models based on sequential pseudo-homogeneous first order Kinetics with Arrhenius type temperature dependence were employed for describing the time course of the main hemicelluloses compounds and their degradation products. The hydrothermal treatment results show that Sesbania grandiflora can be employed as an alternative raw material for the production of XOS leading to high concentrations of XOS (14.1 g/L in the experiment carried out at 190 degrees C and 0.1 h) and xylan to XOS conversion (62.6% in the experiment carried out at 190 degrees C and 6 min). The model proposed provides a satisfactory interpretation of the experimental data obtained in the hydrothermal treatments of this study.

SSF production of lactic acid from cellulosic biosludges

The use of cellulosic biosludges generated in a Kraft pulp mill was investigated as substrate for lactic acid production by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The effect of the operation mode (batch or fedbatch), the initial liquid to solid ratio (12 or 30 g/g) and the nutrient supplementation (MRS components or none) on several parameters including lactic acid concentration, volumetric productivity and product yields, were evaluated. When the operation was carried out in fedbatch mode with nutrient supplementation and using a LSR(0)=12 g/g, a broth containing 42 g/L was obtained after 48 h with a volumetric productivity of 0.87 g/L h and a product yield of 37.8 g lactic acid/100 g biosludges. In a similar experiment carried out without nutrient supplementation, a lactic acid concentration of 39.4 g/L was obtained after 48 h with a volumetric productivity of 0.82 g/L h and a product yield of 35.5 g L-lactic acid/100 g biosludges.

Single cell oil production in solid-state fermentation by Microsphaeropsis sp. from steam-exploded wheat straw mixed with wheat bran

Microsphaeropsis sp. was used to produce SCO in solid-state fermentation (SSF) from a substrate consisting of steam-exploded wheat straw (SEWS) and wheat bran (WB). The yield of SCO was 42 mg/g dry substrate (gds) without adding cellulase. To achieve a higher SCO yield, cellulase was added to the solid-state medium, resulting in an increase of SCO from 42 to 74 mg/gds with a cellulase loading of 10 FPU/gds. Other SSF parameters such as ratio of SEWS to WB of the dry substrate, initial moisture content, and incubation temperature were optimized under the condition of cellulase loading of 10 FPU/gds. So optimized, the SCO yield was 80 mg/gds, and the SCO content of the dry fermented mass was 10.2%. This research explored a novel method to produce SCO from the abundant and cheap agricultural residues - wheat straw and wheat bran.

L-lactic acid production from apple pomace by sequential hydrolysis and fermentation

The potential of apple pomace (a solid waste from cider and apple juice making factories) as a source of sugars and other compounds for fermentation was evaluated. The effect of the cellulase-to-solid ratio (CSR) and the liquor-to-solid ratio (LSR) on the kinetics of glucose and total monosaccharide generation was studied. Mathematical models suitable for reproducing and predicting the hydrolyzate composition were developed. When samples of apple pomace were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis, the glucose and fructose present in the raw material as free monosaccharides were extracted at the beginning of the process. Using low cellulase and cellobiase charges (8.5 FPU/g-solid and 8.5 IU/g-solid, respectively), 79% of total glucan was saccharified after 12 h, leading to solutions containing up to 43.8 g monosaccharides/L (glucose, 22.8 g/L; fructose, 14.8 g/L; xylose+mannose+galactose, 2.5 g/L; arabinose+rhamnose, 2.8g/L). These results correspond to a monosaccharide/cellulase ratio of 0.06 g/FPU and to a volumetric productivity of 3.65 g of monosaccharides/L h. Liquors obtained under these conditions were used for fermentative lactic acid production with Lactobacillus rhamnosus CECT-288, leading to media containing up to 32.5 g/L of L-lactic acid after 6 h (volumetric productivity=5.41 g/L h, product yield=0.88 g/g).