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Non-edible cellulosic biomass from perennial herbaceous plants is a promising and abundant feedstock for replacing slow-growing woody plants used in biotechnological applications. Herbaceous plant biomass, as other types of plant biomass, requires pretreatment before biochemical conversion. In this study, miscanthus straw was pretreated using different methods and subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis with Penicillium verruculosum enzyme complexes under laboratory conditions. The convertibility after enzymatic hydrolysis varied from 15% to 66%, depending on the pretreatment method. Dilute alkaline pretreatment showed the highest convertibility compared to other methods, reaching up to 66%. The efficiency of dilute acid pretreatment was relatively low compared to other methods. The maximum convertibility was 37% for sulfuric acid pretreatment (the least efficient) and 51% for nitric acid. Convertibility was almost equal with 43% for white liquor and 46% for hot water. The glucose-to-xylose ratio was 4.7:1 for dilute alkaline pretreatment and 11–13:1 for white liquor. Both sulfuric and nitric acid resulted in a low xylose content in the enzymatic hydrolysates. Low-xylose hydrolysates with less than 2% of the glucose amount can be produced by hot water pretreatment. Preparation C, enriched with endoglucanase I from T. reesei and endoglucanase II from P. verruculosum, was found to be the most effective of the different enzyme preparations (EPs) tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfite and kraft pulping are two principal methods of industrial delignification of wood. In recent decades, those have been considered as possibilities to pretreat recalcitrant wood lignocellulosics for the enzymatic hydrolysis of polysaccharides and the subsequent fermentation of obtained sugars to valuable bioproducts. Current work compares chemistry and technological features of two different cooking processes in the preparation of polysaccharide substrates for deep saccharification with P. verruculosum glycosyl hydrolases. Bleached kraft and sulfite pulps were subjected to hydrolysis with enzyme mixture of high xylanase, cellobiohydrolase, and β-glucosidase activities at a dosage of 10 FPU/g of dry pulp and fiber concentration of 2.5, 5, and 10%. HPLC was used to analyze soluble sugars after hydrolysis and additional acid inversion of oligomers to monosaccharides. Kraft pulp demonstrated higher pulp conversion after 48 h (74–99%), which mostly resulted from deep xylan hydrolysis. Sulfite-pulp hydrolysates, obtained in similar conditions due to higher hexose concentration (more than 50 g/L), had higher fermentability for industrial strains producing alcohols, microbial protein, or organic acids. Along with saccharification, enzymatic modification of non-hydrolyzed residues occurred, which led to decreased degree of polymerization and composition changes in two industrial pulps. As a result, crystallinity of kraft pulp increased by 1.3%, which opens possibilities for obtaining new types of cellulosic products in the pulp and paper industry. The high adaptability and controllability of enzymatic and fermentation processes creates prospects for the modernization of existing factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed at evaluating different enzyme combinations in the saccharification of sugarcane bagasse (SCB), soybean husks (SBH) and oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) submitted to mild acid and alkaline pretreatments. Enzyme pools were represented by B1 host (crude cellulase/xylanase complexes of Penicillium verruculosum); B1-XylA (Penicillium canescens xylanase A expressed in P. verruculosum B1 host strain); and F10 (Aspergillus niger β-glucosidase expressed in B1 host strain). Enzyme loading was 10 mg protein/g dry substrate and 40 U/g of β-glucosidase (F10) activity. SCB was efficiently hydrolyzed by B1 host after alkaline pretreatment, yielding glucose and reducing sugars at 71 g/L or 65 g/100 g of dry pretreated substrate and 91 g/L or 83 g/100 g, respectively. B1 host performed better also for EFB, regardless of the pretreatment method, but yields were lower (glucose 27–30 g/L, 25–27 g/100 g; reducing sugars 37–42 g/L, 34–38 g/100 g). SBH was efficiently saccharified by the combination of B1 host and B1-XylA, yielding similar concentrations of reducing sugars for both pretreatments (92–96 g/L, 84–87 g/100 g); glucose recovery, however, was higher with alkaline pretreatment (81 g/L, 74 g/100 g). Glucose and reducing sugar yields from initial substrate mass were 42% and 54% for SCB, 36% and 42–47% for SBH and 16–18% and 21–26% for EFB, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]