The use of thermostable bacterial hemicellulases improves the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to valuable molecules.

Abstract

The hydrolysis of xylans, one of the main classes of carbohydrates that constitute lignocellulosic biomass, requires the synergistic action of several enzymes. The development of efficient enzymatic strategies for hydrolysis remains a challenge in the pursuit of viable biorefineries, particularly with respect to the valorisation of pentoses. The approach developed in this work is based on obtaining and characterising hemicellulasic cocktails from Thermobacillus xylanilyticus after culturing this bacterium on the hemicellulose-rich substrates wheat bran and wheat straw, which differ in their chemistries. The two obtained cocktails (WSC and WBC, for cocktails obtained from wheat straw and wheat bran, respectively) were resistant to a broad range of temperature and pH conditions. At 60 °C, both cocktails efficiently liberated pentoses and phenolic acids from wheat bran (liberating more than 60, 30 and 40 % of the total xylose, arabinose and ferulic acid in wheat bran, respectively). They acted to a lesser extent on the more recalcitrant wheat straw, with hydrolytic yields of more than 30 % of the total arabinose and xylose content and 22 % of the ferulic acid content. Hydrolysis is associated with a high rate of sugar monomerisation. When associated with cellulases, high quantities of glucose were also obtained. On wheat bran, total glucose yields were improved by 70 % compared to the action of cellulases alone. This improvement was obtained by cellulase complementation either with WSC or with WBC. On wheat straw, similar levels of total glucose were obtained for cellulases alone or complemented with WSC or WBC. Interestingly, the complementation of cellulases with WSC or WBC induced an increase in the monomeric glucose yield of more than 20 % compared to cellulases alone.