Optimization of Alkaline and Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Agave Bagasse by Response Surface Methodology.

Utilization of lignocellulosic materials for the production of value-added chemicals or biofuels generally requires a pretreatment process to overcome the recalcitrance of the plant biomass for further enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation stages. Two of the most employed pretreatment processes are the ones that used dilute acid (DA) and alkaline (AL) catalyst providing specific effects on the physicochemical structure of the biomass, such as high xylan and lignin removal for DA and AL, respectively. Another important effect that need to be studied is the use of a high solids pretreatment (≥15%) since offers many advantaged over lower solids loadings, including increased sugar and ethanol concentrations (in combination with a high solids saccharification), which will be reflected in lower capital costs; however, this data is currently limited. In this study, several variables, such as catalyst loading, retention time, and solids loading, were studied using response surface methodology (RSM) based on a factorial central composite design of DA and AL pretreatment on agave bagasse using a range of solids from 3 to 30% (w/w) to obtain optimal process conditions for each pretreatment. Subsequently enzymatic hydrolysis was performed using Novozymes Cellic CTec2 and HTec2 presented as total reducing sugar (TRS) yield. Pretreated biomass was characterized by wet-chemistry techniques and selected samples were analyzed by calorimetric techniques, and scanning electron/confocal fluorescent microscopy. RSM was also used to optimize the pretreatment conditions for maximum TRS yield. The optimum conditions were determined for AL pretreatment: 1.87% NaOH concentration, 50.3 min and 13.1% solids loading, whereas DA pretreatment: 2.1% acid concentration, 33.8 min and 8.5% solids loading.

A bifunctional endoglucanase/endoxylanase from Cellulomonas flavigena with potential use in industrial processes at different pH.

Cellulomonas flavigena CDBB-531 was found to secrete a bifunctional cellulase/xylanase with a molecular mass of 49 kDa and pI 4.3. This enzyme was active on Remazol brilliant blue-carboxymethylcellulose (RBB-CMC) and Remazol brilliant blue-xylan (RBB-X). Based on thin-layer chromatographic analysis of the degradation products, the cellulase activity produced glucose, cellobiose, cellotriose, and cellotetraose from CMC as the substrate. When xylan from birchwood was used, end products were xylose, arabinose, and xylobiose. The bifunctional enzyme showed a pH optimum of 6 for cellulase activity and 9 for xylanase activity, which pointed out that this enzyme had separate sites for each activity. In both cases, the apparent optimum temperature was 50 degrees C. The predicted amino acid sequence of purified protein showed similarity with the catalytic domain of several glycosyl hydrolases of family 10.

Differential expression of cellulases and xylanases by Cellulomonas flavigena grown on different carbon sources.

The diversity of cellulases and xylanases secreted by Cellulomonas flavigena cultured on sugar cane bagasse, Solka-floc, xylan, or glucose was explored by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. C. flavigena produced the largest variety of cellulases and xylanases on sugar cane bagasse. Multiple extracellular proteins were expressed with these growth substrates, and a limited set of them coincided in all substrates. Thirteen proteins with carboxymethyl cellulase or xylanase activity were liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry sequenced. Proteins SP4 and SP18 were identified as products of celA and celB genes, respectively, while SP20 and SP33 were isoforms of the bifunctional cellulase/xylanase Cxo recently sequenced and characterized in C. flavigena. The rest of the detected proteins were unknown enzymes with either carboxymethyl cellulase or xylanase activities. All proteins aligned with glycosyl hydrolases listed in National Center for Biotechnology Information database, mainly with cellulase and xylanase enzymes. One of these unknown enzymes, protein SP6, was cross-induced by sugar cane bagasse, Solka-floc, and xylan. The differences in the expression maps of the presently induced cultures revealed that C. flavigena produces and secretes multiple enzymes to use a wide range of lignocellulosic substrates as carbon sources. The expression of these proteins depends on the nature of the cellulosic substrate.