Biomedical subjects

Renata Bura

Publications and source records attributed to Renata Bura.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Effect of hemicellulose and lignin removal on enzymatic hydrolysis of steam pretreated corn stover.

Ethanol can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass using steam pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. The sugar yields, from both hemicellulose and cellulose are critical parameters for an economically-feasible ethanol production process. This study shows that a near-theoretical glucose yield (96-104%) from acid-catalysed steam pretreated corn stover can be obtained if xylanases are used to supplement cellulases during hydrolysis. Xylanases hydrolyse residual hemicellulose, thereby improving the access of enzymes to cellulose. Under these conditions, xylose yields reached 70-74%. When pre-treatment severity was reduced by using autocatalysis instead of acid-catalysed steam pretreatment, xylose yields were increased to 80-86%. Partial delignification of pretreated material was also evaluated as a way to increase the overall sugar yield. The overall glucose yield increased slightly due to delignification but the overall xylose yield decreased due to hemicellulose loss in the delignification step. The data also demonstrate that steam pretreatment is a robust process: corn stover from Europe and North America showed only minor differences in behaviour.

Hydrolysis↗

PubMed2006

A rapid microassay to evaluate enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic substrates.

Current attempts to produce ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass are focused on the optimization of pretreatment to reduce substrate recalcitrance and the improvement of enzymes for hydrolysis of the cellulose and hemicellulose components to produce fermentable sugars. Research aimed at optimizing both aspects of the bioconversion process involves assessment of the effects of multiple variables on enzyme efficiency, resulting in large factorial experiments with intensive assay requirements. A rapid assay for lignocellulose hydrolysis has been developed to address this need. Pretreated lignocellulose is formed into handsheets, which are then used to prepare small disks that are easily dispensed into microtiter plates. The hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose is estimated using an enzyme-coupled spectrophotometric assay. Using disks prepared from ethanol organosolv pretreated yellow poplar, it is shown that the assay generates data comparable with those produced by hydrolysis of pretreated yellow poplar pulp in Erlenmeyer flasks, followed by HPLC analysis of glucose. The assay shows considerable time and cost benefits over the standard assay protocol and is applicable to a broad range of lignocellulosic substrates.

Catalysis↗

PubMed2006

Updates on softwood-to-ethanol process development.

Softwoods are generally considered to be one of the most difficult lignocellulosic feedstocks to hydrolyze to sugars for fermentation, primarily owing to the nature and amount of lignin. If the inhibitory effect of lignin can be significantly reduced, softwoods may become a more useful feedstock for the bioconversion processes. Moreover, strategies developed to reduce problems with softwood lignin may also provide a means to enhance the processing of other lignocellulosic substrates. The Forest Products Biotechnology Group at the University of British Columbia has been developing softwood-to-ethanol processes with SO2-catalyzed steam explosion and ethanol organosolv pretreatments. Lignin from the steam explosion process has relatively low reactivity and, consequently, low product value, compared with the high-value coproduct that can be obtained through organosolv. The technical and economic challenges of both processes are presented, together with suggestions for future process development.

Biomass↗

PubMed2006

Evaluation of cellulase preparations for hydrolysis of hardwood substrates.

Seven cellulase preparations from Penicillium and Trichoderma spp. were evaluated for their ability to hydrolyze the cellulose fraction of hardwoods (yellow poplar and red maple) pretreated by organosolv extraction, as well as model cellulosic substrates such as filter paper. There was no significant correlation among hydrolytic performance on pretreated hardwood, based on glucose release, and filter paper activity. However, performance on pretreated hardwood showed significant correlations to the levels of endogenous beta-glucosidase and xylanase activities in the cellulase preparation. Accordingly, differences in performance were reduced or eliminated following supplementation with a crude beta-glucosidase preparation containing both activities. These results complement a previous investigation using softwoods pretreated by either organosolv extraction or steam explosion. Cellulase preparations that performed best on hardwood also showed superior performance on the softwood substrates.

Cellulase↗

PubMed2005

Weak lignin-binding enzymes: a novel approach to improve activity of cellulases for hydrolysis of lignocellulosics.

Economic barriers preventing commercialization of lignocellulose-to-ethanol bioconversion processes include the high cost of hydrolytic enzymes. One strategy for cost reduction is to improve the specific activities of cellulases by genetic engineering. However, screening for improved activity typically uses "ideal" cellulosic substrates, and results are not necessarily applicable to more realistic substrates such as pretreated hardwoods and softwoods. For lignocellulosic substrates, nonproductive binding and inactivation of enzymes by the lignin component appear to be important factors limiting catalytic efficiency. A better understanding of these factors could allow engineering of cellulases with improved activity based on reduced enzyme-lignin interaction ("weak lignin-binding cellulases"). To prove this concept, we have shown that naturally occurring cellulases with similar catalytic activity on a model cellulosic substrate can differ significantly in their affinities for lignin. Moreover, although cellulose-binding domains (CBDs) are hydrophobic and probably participate in lignin binding, we show that cellulases lacking CBDs also have a high affinity for lignin, indicating the presence of lignin-binding sites on the catalytic domain.

Cellulases↗

PubMed2005

Enzymatic hydrolysis of steam-exploded and ethanol organosolv-pretreated Douglas-Firby novel and commercial fungal cellulases.

Softwood residues are the most abundant feedstock available for bioconversion in many northern countries. However, the high costs for delignification and enzymatic hydrolysis currently deter commercialization of softwood bioconversion processes. This study evaluates the abilities of two novel fungal preparations (MSUBC1 and MSUBC2) and two commercial cellulase preparations (TR1 and TR2) to hydrolyze cellulose in Douglas-firpretreated by steam explosion or ethanol organosolv process. MSUBC1 showed significantly better performance than the other preparations on both lignocellulosic substrates. In particular, MSUBC1 achieved >76% cellulose conversion for hydrolysis of steam-exploded Douglas-fir (approximately 44% lignin) after 72 h at low enzyme loading (10 filter paper units/g of cellulose) and without beta-glucosidase supplementation.

Biodegradation, Environmental↗

PubMed2003

Optimization of SO2-catalyzed steam pretreatment of corn fiber for ethanol production.

A batch reactor was employed to steam explode corn fiber at various degrees of severity to evaluate the potential of using this feedstock as part of an enzymatically mediated cellulose-to-ethanol process. Severity was controlled by altering temperature (150-230 degrees C), residence time (1-9 min), and SO2 concentration (0-6% [w/w] dry matter). The effects of varying the different parameters were assessed by response surface modeling. The results indicated that maximum sugar yields (hemicellulose-derived water soluble, and cellulose-derived following enzymatic hydrolysis) were recovered from corn fiber pretreated at 190 degrees C for 5 minutes after exposure to 3% SO2. Sequential SO2-catalyzed steam explosion and enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in a conversion efficiency of 81% of the combined original hemicellulose and cellulose in the corn fiber to monomeric sugars. An additional posthydrolysis step performed on water soluble hemicellulose stream increased the concentration of sugars available for fermentation by 10%, resulting in the high conversion efficiency of 91%. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was able to ferment the resultant corn fiber hydrolysates, perhydrolysate, and liquid fraction from the posthydrolysis steps to 89, 94, and 85% of theoretical ethanol conversion, respectively. It was apparent that all of the parameters investigated during the steam explosion pretreatment had a significant effect on sugar recovery, inhibitory formation, enzymatic conversion efficiency, and fermentation capacity of the yeast.

Bioreactors↗

PubMed2002

SO2-catalyzed steam explosion of corn fiber for ethanol production.

Corn fiber, a by-product of the corn wet-milling industry, represents a renewable resource that is readily available in significant quantities and could potentially serve as a low-cost feedstock for the production of fuel-grade alcohol. In this study, we used a batch reactor to steam explode corn fiber at various degrees of severity to evaluate the potential of using this feedstock in the bioconversion process. The results indicated that maximum sugar yields (soluble and following enzymatic hydrolysis) were recovered from corn fiber that was pretreated at 190 degrees C for 5 min with 6% SO2. Sequential SO2-catalyzed steam explosion and enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in very high conversion (81%) of all polysaccharides in the corn fiber to monomeric sugars. Subsequently, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was able to convert the resultant corn fiber hydrolysates to ethanol very efficiently, yielding 90-96% of theoretical conversion during the fermentation process.

Animal Feed↗