Optimization of Ammonia Fiber Expansion (AFEX) Pretreatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Miscanthus x giganteus to Fermentable Sugars

Miscanthus x giganteus is a tall perennial grass whose suitability as an energy crop is presently being appraised. There is very little information on the effect of pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of Miscanthus to produce fermentable sugars. This paper reports sugar yields during enzymat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biotechnology progress 2007-08, Vol.23 (4), p.846-850
Main Authors: Murnen, Hannah K., Balan, Venkatesh, Chundawat, Shishir P. S., Bals, Bryan, Sousa, Leonardo da Costa, Dale, Bruce E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
ammonia
beta-glucosidase
biomass
Biotechnology
Carbohydrates
Cellulase
chemical treatment
chemistry
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases
Energy-Generating Resources
enzymatic hydrolysis
Fermentation
genetics
glucans
hydrolysis
lignocellulose
methods
Miscanthus
physiology
Poaceae
Polygalacturonase
sugars
temperature
water content
xylan
xylanases
yields
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Miscanthus x giganteus is a tall perennial grass whose suitability as an energy crop is presently being appraised. There is very little information on the effect of pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of Miscanthus to produce fermentable sugars. This paper reports sugar yields during enzymatic hydrolysis from ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) pretreated Miscanthus. Pretreatment conditions including temperature, moisture, ammonia loading, residence time, and enzyme loadings are varied to maximize hydrolysis yields. In addition, further treatments such as soaking the biomass prior to AFEX as well as washing the pretreated material were also attempted to improve sugar yields. The optimal AFEX conditions determined were 160 °C, 2:1 (w/w) ammonia to biomass loading, 233% moisture (dry weight basis), and 5 min reaction time for water‐soaked Miscanthus. Approximately 96% glucan and 81% xylan conversions were achieved after 168 h enzymatic hydrolysis at 1% glucan loading using 15 FPU/(g of glucan) of cellulase and 64 p‐NPGU/(g of glucan) of β‐glucosidase along with xylanase and tween‐80 supplementation. A mass balance for the AFEX pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis process is presented.
ISSN:8756-7938
1520-6033
DOI:10.1021/bp070098m