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A commercial laccase-mediator system to delignify and improve saccharification of the fast-growing Paulownia fortunei (Seem.) Hemsl.

  • Jorge Rencoret ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Antonio Pereira , Gisela Marques , José Carlos del Río ORCID logo , Ángel T. Martínez ORCID logo and Ana Gutiérrez ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: October 20, 2018
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Holzforschung
From the journal Holzforschung Volume 73 Issue 1

Abstract

It was demonstrated for the first time that a laccase-based enzymatic pretreatment is able to delignify fast-growing paulownia species. The treatment was performed with a commercial low-redox potential laccase isolated from Myceliophthora thermophila (Apinis) Oorschot and methyl syringate (MeS) as a natural phenolic mediator. Up to 24% lignin removal was attained by the laccase-MeS treatment (L/MeS), followed by alkaline peroxide extraction in a multistage sequence. The reduction in lignin content was accompanied by a significant improvement in the subsequent enzymatic saccharification, with increases of up to 38% glucose and 34% xylose yields. The structural modifications of the lignin were analyzed in situ by two dimensional-nuclear magnetic resonance (2D-NMR) spectroscopy. A considerable removal of guaiacyl and syringyl lignin units with respect to the carbohydrate signals was visible as well as the cleavage of β-O-4′, β-5′ and β-β′ linkages leading to elevated amounts of Cα-oxidized guaiacyl and syringyl units. The presence of oxidized lignin compounds in the filtrates of the enzymatic treatments – such as vanillin, vanillic acid, syringaldehyde and syringic acid – conclusively demonstrates the ability of L/MeS treatment to oxidize and depolymerize the lignin in paulownia wood.

Keywords: 2D-NMR; laccase; lignin; paulownia; pretreatment; saccharification

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Manuel Angulo (CITIUS, University of Seville) for technical assistance with the NMR experiments. Novozymes (Bagsvaerd, Denmark) is acknowledged for the M. thermophila laccase.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: This study has been funded by the Spanish projects CTQ2014-60764-JIN, AGL2014-53730-R and AGL2017-83036-R (financed by Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI, and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER) and the CSIC project 2014-40E-097.

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

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Received: 2018-04-26
Accepted: 2018-09-19
Published Online: 2018-10-20
Published in Print: 2018-12-19

©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  3. Advances in biorefinery research
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https://doi.org/10.1515/hf-2018-0095
Keywords for this article
2D-NMR; laccase; lignin; paulownia; pretreatment; saccharification

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Advances in biorefinery research
  4. Original Articles
  5. Techno-economic feasibility of bioethanol production via biorefinery of olive tree prunings (OTP): optimization of the pretreatment stage
  6. Designing an olive tree pruning biorefinery for the production of bioethanol, xylitol and antioxidants: a techno-economic assessment
  7. Structural characteristics of lignin in pruning residues of olive tree (Olea europaea L.)
  8. Production of xylooligosaccharides and cellulosic ethanol from steam-exploded barley straw
  9. A commercial laccase-mediator system to delignify and improve saccharification of the fast-growing Paulownia fortunei (Seem.) Hemsl.
  10. Organosolv pretreated beech wood as a substrate for acetone butanol ethanol extractive fermentation
  11. Fine-fibrous cellulose II aerogels of high specific surface from pulp solutions in TBAF·H2O/DMSO
  12. Oil-absorbing porous cellulosic material from sized wood pulp fines
  13. Novel protein-repellent and antimicrobial polysaccharide multilayer thin films
  14. Environmental sustainability assessment of HMF and FDCA production from lignocellulosic biomass through life cycle assessment (LCA)
  15. Review
  16. Lignin-based foams as insulation materials: a review
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