Cellulase retention and sugar removal by membrane ultrafiltration during lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysis |
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Authors: | Jeffrey S Knutsen Robert H Davis |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, 80309-0424 Boulder, CO |
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Abstract: | Technologies suitable for the separation and reuse of cellulase enzymes during the enzymatic saccharification of pretreated
corn stover are investigated to examine the economic and technical viability of processes that promote cellulase reuse while
removing inhibitory reaction products such as glucose and cellobiose. The simplest and most suitable separation is a filter
with relatively large pores on the order of 20–25 mm that retains residual corn stover solids while passing reaction products
such as glucose and cellobiose to form a sugar stream for a variety of end uses. Such a simple separation is effective because
cellulase remains bound to the residual solids. Ultrafiltration using 50-kDa polyethersulfone membranes to recover cellulase
enzymes in solution was shown not to enhance further the saccharification rate or overall conversion. Instead, it appears
that the necessary cellulase enzymes, including β-glucosidase, are tightly bound to the substrate; when fresh corn stover
is contacted with highly washed residual solids, without the addition of fresh enzymes, glucose is generated at a high rate.
When filtration was applied multiple times, the concentration of inhibitory reaction products such as glucose and cellobiose
was reduced from 70 to 10 g/L. However, an enhanced saccharification performance was not observed, most likely because the
concentration of the inhibitory products remained too high. Further reduction in the product concentration was not investigated,
because it would make the reaction unnecessarily complex and result in a product stream that is much too dilute to be useful.
Finally, an economic analysis shows that reuse of cellulase can reduce glucose production costs, especially when the enzyme
price is high. The most economic performance is shown to occur when the cellulase enzyme is reused and a small amount of fresh
enzyme is added after each separation step to replace lost or deactivated enzyme. |
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Keywords: | Saccharification corn stover cellulase glucose ultrafiltration vacuum filtration |
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