Two-stage fungal biopulping for improved enzymatic hydrolysis of wood

Fungal behavior and recent developments in biopulping technology

Biological pretreatment of wood chips by fungi is a well-known approach prior to mechanical- or chemical pulp production. For this biological approach, a limited number of white-rot fungi with an ability to colonize and selectively degrade lignin are used to pretreat wood chips allowing the remaining cellulose to be processed for further applications. Biopulping is an environmentally friendly technology that can reduce the energy consumption of traditional pulping processes. Fungal pretreatment also reduces the pitch content in the wood chips and improves the pulp quality in terms of brightness, strength, and bleachability. The bleached biopulps are easier to refine compared to pulps produced by conventional methodology. In the last decades, biopulping has been scaled up with pilot trials towards industrial level, with optimization of several intermediate steps and improvement of economic feasibility. Nevertheless, fundamental knowledge on the biochemical mechanisms involved in biopulping is still lacking. Overall, biopulping technology has advanced rapidly during recent decades and pilot mill trials have been implemented. The use of fungi as pretreatment for pulp production is in line with modern circular economy strategies and can be implemented in existing production plants. In this review, we discuss some recent advances in biopulping technology, which can improve mechanical-, chemical-, and organosolv pulping processes along with their mechanisms.

Screening the Carbon Source Type in Solid-State Fermentation with Phanerochaete chrysosporium to Improve the Forage Value of Corn Straw and Rice Straw

Poor quality straw can be made more digestible and palatable through delignification using white rot fungi as a biological treatment in SSF. The decomposition of organic matter by white rot fungi is improved when a carbon source is added. Reducing the fermentation cycle can also help retain more nutrients in straw feed. To increase rumen digestibility and nutrient utilization, corn straw and rice straw were subjected to SSF with white rot fungi (Phanerochaete chrysosporium) for 21 days. The type of carbon source (glucose, sucrose, molasses, or soluble starch) was optimized, and the nutrient composition and in vitro fermentation parameters of the fermented straw were assessed. In the fermented corn straw and rice straw supplemented with different carbon sources, the results showed a decrease in lignin content, dry matter, cellulose, and hemicellulose loss, and an increase in crude protein content after 21 days. Total volatile fatty acid and ammonium nitrogen concentrations increased significantly (p < 0.01) during in vitro fermentation. Overall, the most enhanced nutritional values for corn straw and rice straw were observed after 14 days of SSF in the groups using molasses or glucose as a carbon source.

Effects of Xylanase Pretreatment on the Quality of Refiner Mechanical Mulberry Branch Fibers

We performed xylanase pretreatment prior to mechanical refining in the production of mulberry branch fibers, with the objective of saving energy and studying the effects of such pretreatment on the quality of the fibers. To determine the effects of the enzyme action, we analyzed the energy required for refining, related yield, and the dimension, deformation, and morphology of the fibers. We found that, with the xylanase pretreatment, the refining energy was reduced by 4%, with the yield of fibers being maintained at >85%. In addition, the fiber bundles were defibered further, resulting in reduced average length of the fiber. Furthermore, the fiber widths increased because of the improved swelling effect of the xylanase pretreatment. However, in some instances, the fine elements were reduced. With a low enzyme dosage, the fiber coarseness decreased remarkably and, because of the swelling and softening effects of the xylanase pretreatment on the mulberry branches, the fiber kink ratios and curl were reduced. Additionally, the mulberry branch tissue was loosened, facilitating fiber separation. In view of these findings, the biomechanical process could be a potentially green and efficient process for the manufacturing of mulberry branch fibers.

Lignocellulose degradation: An overview of fungi and fungal enzymes involved in lignocellulose degradation

This review aims to present current knowledge of the fungi involved in lignocellulose degradation with an overview of the various classes of lignocellulose-acting enzymes engaged in the pretreatment and saccharification step. Fungi have numerous applications and biotechnological potential for various industries including chemicals, fuel, pulp, and paper. The capability of fungi to degrade lignocellulose containing raw materials is due to their highly effective enzymatic system. Along with the hydrolytic enzymes consisting of cellulases and hemicellulases, responsible for polysaccharide degradation, they have a unique nonenzymatic oxidative system which together with ligninolytic enzymes is responsible for lignin modification and degradation. An overview of the enzymes classification is given by the Carbohydrate-Active enZymes (CAZy) database as the major database for the identification of the lignocellulolytic enzymes by their amino acid sequence similarity. Finally, the recently discovered novel class of recalcitrant polysaccharide degraders-lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are presented, because of these enzymes importance in the cellulose degradation process.

Pretreatment of Leucaena leucocephala wood by acidified glycerol: optimization, severity index and correlation analysis

In this study, Leucaena leucocephala wood was pretreated with aqueous glycerol having H₂SO₄ as the catalyst. Response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) were used to optimize the process parameters, catalyst concentration (1-3%), duration (120-300 min) and temperature (100-150 °C). ANN gave more accurate predictions for total reducing sugar yield than RSM. ANN also had lower values for error functions. Severity index (SI) was calculated based on the temperature, duration and catalyst concentration. Increase in SI from 0.21 * 10³ to 2.06 * 10³ increased total reducing sugar (TRS) production from 39.97 g/kg to 321.8 g/kg. Further increase in SI reduced the TRS and this change positively correlates with the loss of cellulose content. Correlation analysis showed that severity index can also be used to describe pretreatment process.

Sequential white-rot and brown-rot fungal pretreatment of wheat straw as a promising alternative for complementary mild treatments

White-rot and brown-rot fungi have complementary mechanisms to selectively degrade lignin and holocellullose, respectively. Thereby, a fungal co-culture of a white-rot and a brown-rot fungal could result in efficient strategy for a mild lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment. In this work, single, sequential and co-inoculation of the selective-lignin degrading white-rot fungus Ganoderma lobatum and the brown-rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum were evaluated as biological pretreatments of wheat straw to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. The single cultures of G. lobatum and G. trabeum exhibited preferential degradation of lignin and hemicellulose, respectively. The total crystallinity index decreased in samples pretreated with G. trabeum but not with G. lobatum. The pretreatment with single cultures of G. lobatum or G. trabeum increased glucose yields by 43.6% and 26.1% respectively compared to untreated straw. Although co-inoculation resulted in higher yields of glucose when compared with single cultures, only a slight synergistic effect between fungi was observed. Contrary, the sequential inoculation of G. lobatum incubated for 10 days followed by G. trabeum incubated for 10 days more showed a strong synergic effect on enzymatic hydrolysis. This sequential culture showed the highest glucose yield (191.5 mg g^-1 wheat straw), 2.8-fold higher than untreated wheat straw, and 140-150% higher than the single-cultures of G. lobatum and G. trabeum, respectively.

The effect of particle size and amount of inoculum on fungal treatment of wheat straw and wood chips

Background

The aim of this study was to optimize the fungal treatment of lignocellulosic biomass by stimulating the colonization. Wheat straw and wood chips were treated with Ceriporiopsis subvermispora and Lentinula edodes with various amounts of colonized millet grains (0.5, 1.5 or 3.0 % per g of wet weight of substrate) added to the substrates. Also, wheat straw and wood chips were chopped to either 0.5 or 2 cm. Effectiveness of the fungal treatment after 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 wk of incubation was determined by changes in chemical composition, in vitro gas production (IVGP) as a measure for rumen degradability, and ergosterol content as a measure of fungal biomass.

Results

Incomplete colonization was observed for C. subvermispora treated wheat straw and L. edodes treated wood chips. The different particle sizes and amounts of inoculum tested, had no significant effects on the chemical composition and the IVGP of C. subvermispora treated wood chips. Particle size did influence L. edodes treatment of wheat straw. The L. edodes treatment of 2 cm wheat straw resulted in a more selective delignification and a higher IVGP than the smaller particles. Addition of 1.5 % or 3 % L. edodes inoculum to wheat straw resulted in more selective delignification and a higher IVGP than addition of 0.5 % inoculum.

Conclusion

Particle size and amount of inoculum did not have an effect on C. subvermispora treatment of wood chips. At least 1.5 % L. edodes colonized millet grains should be added to 2 cm wheat straw to result in an increased IVGP and acid detergent lignin (ADL) degradation.

Xenomic networks variability and adaptation traits in wood decaying fungi

Fungal degradation of wood is mainly restricted to basidiomycetes, these organisms having developed complex oxidative and hydrolytic enzymatic systems. Besides these systems, wood-decaying fungi possess intracellular networks allowing them to deal with the myriad of potential toxic compounds resulting at least in part from wood degradation but also more generally from recalcitrant organic matter degradation. The members of the detoxification pathways constitute the xenome. Generally, they belong to multigenic families such as the cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and the glutathione transferases. Taking advantage of the recent release of numerous genomes of basidiomycetes, we show here that these multigenic families are extended and functionally related in wood-decaying fungi. Furthermore, we postulate that these rapidly evolving multigenic families could reflect the adaptation of these fungi to the diversity of their substrate and provide keys to understand their ecology. This is of particular importance for white biotechnology, this xenome being a putative target for improving degradation properties of these fungi in biomass valorization purposes.