Hydrolysis of Corn Stover by Talaromyces cellulolyticus Enzymes: Evaluation of the Residual Enzymes Activities Through the Process

The obtainment of sugars from lignocellulosic residues represents a sustainable and versatile platform for the production of a number of bio-based products. Cellulases are a family of enzymes which can effectively hydrolyze the biomass polysaccharides at mild conditions. Cellulolytic fungi belonging to the genera Trichoderma and Aspergillus are the most commonly source of commercial cellulases used so far. More recently, Talaromyces cellulolyticus was also scored as a promising cellulases producer. In comparison to the Trichoderma and Aspergillus systems, Talaromyces enzymes have been less investigated. The present research dealt with the conversion of steam-pretreated corn stover by commercial blend of T. cellulolyticus enzymes with respect to the common blends. The paper also investigated the stability of the enzyme preparation and tested the use of additives (namely Tween 80, Tween 20, and BSA) to improve the enzymes performances and the hydrolysis efficiency. The results indicated that, at the same process conditions, T. cellulolyticus cellulases were more effective and yielded 20% more sugars compared to control blends. Furthermore, the cellulase components displayed a synergistic interaction with hemicellulases. The results indicate that cellulases from T. cellulolyticus are less affected by the high dry matter consistency and the use of additives could increase the total activity by around 50% and β-glucosidase capacity by 10–15%.