Extraction and determination of enzymes produced by Ceriporiopsis subvermispora during biopulping of Pinus taeda wood chips

Pitch control is an important aspect in pulp and paper manufacture, and the first example where microbial biotechnology provided successful solutions in this industrial sector. Triglycerides cause deposits in softwood mechanical pulping, and both microbial and enzymatic products have been commercialized to be applied on wood and pulp, respectively. The former are based on colorless strains of sapstain fungi. The latter are improved lipases, including thermostable variants from directed evolution. These enzymes are among the additives of choice in pulping of high-resin-content softwoods. However, lipases are not useful when pitch originates from other lipids, such as steroids and terpenes, and the sapstain inocula are also only partially effective. In the search for stronger biocatalysts to degrade recalcitrant lipids, the potential of white-rot fungi and their enzymes has been demonstrated. When inocula of these fungi are used, wood treatment must be controlled to avoid cellulose degradation. However, the efficiency and selectivity of the laccase-mediator system permits its integration as an additional bleaching stage. A double benefit can be obtained from these treatments since pitch is controlled at the same time that residual lignin is removed facilitating the implementation of totally chlorine free pulp bleaching.

/pdf/microbial-and-enzymatic-control-of-pitch-in-the-pulp-and-2ipdwp83t3.pdf

Microbial and enzymatic control of pitch in the pulp and paper industry

Biopulping can be an alternative to the traditional methods of pulping. Biopulping use fungi that are known to be able to degrade wood as well as lignin constituent of wood. Amongst these white rot fungi are the most proficient biodegrader. The fungus is non sporulating and is a selective lignin degrader. It colonizes either on living or dead wood and decomposes all wood polymers including lignin and extractives making it to be extremely potential to be used in biopulping. The process of biopulping reduces the utilization of chemical in pulping industry and help in decreasing the environmental hazard caused by normal pulping. The present review deals with diverse aspects of biopulping and their ecological as well as economic significances.

Biopulping of lignocellulosic material using different fungal species: a review

Rare assemblages of woody coprolites from different strata of the Two Medicine Formation provide surprising perspectives on the feeding behavior of Late Cretaceous ornithischian dinosaurs. Most of the irregularly shaped, calcareous specimens are largely composed of fragmented conifer wood (13%–85%) and can be identified as coprolites by the presence of distinctive backfilled dung beetle burrows. The large size (up to 7 L in volume), fibrous contents, and associated bones and eggshell strongly suggest that the source animals at one site were Maiasaura hadrosaurs. The wood-bearing coprolites occur in strata ranging in age from ∼74–80 Ma, revealing a recurring (possibly seasonal) habit of wood ingestion. The preponderance of wood in the specimens and the absence of recognizable small-diameter twig fragments suggest that wood ingestion was intentional—that the coprolite producers had not merely consumed wood inadvertently when feeding on the leaves and bark of terminal branches. Because undegraded wood provides inconsequential nutritive value for vertebrates, it is unlikely that ornithischians would have expended the energy to masticate intact wood for little benefit. Furthermore, patterns of tissue damage in the fecal wood fragments suggest fungal degradation. Thus, the most parsimonious explanation for the high fecal wood content is that the coprolite producers consumed decomposing wood to capitalize on resources released by fungal attack, along with the tissues of the decomposers and associated invertebrate detritivores. These multiple coprolite deposits provide direct fossil evidence of recurring dinosaur diets and suggest that some ornithischians at least occasionally tapped detrital resources. Although such feeding behavior is rare in large extant herbivores, utilization of rotting wood would have augmented the resource options of Cretaceous ecosystems that lacked fodder provided by grasses and other derived angiosperms.

https://bioone.org/journals/Palaios/volume-22/issue-5/palo.2006.p06-087r/THE-PALEOBIOLOGICAL-IMPLICATIONS-OF-HERBIVOROUS-DINOSAUR-COPROLITES-FROM-THE-UPPER/10.2110/palo.2006.p06-087r.pdf

The paleobiological implications of herbivorous dinosaur coprolites from the upper cretaceous two medicine formation of montana: why eat wood?

The wood colonising white-rot basidiomycete Ceriporiopsis subvermispora is able to degrade lignin in preference to cellulose. To differentiate between fungal strains and to estimate their delignification behaviour, both in an early stage of degradation and over a specific period, is important for the wood industry. Mid infrared (MIR) and near infrared (NIR) spectra were taken from 60 milled spruce wood samples and their total lignin content was determined by wet laboratory methods. Good correlations were found between the MIR band–height ratio (H1510 cm−1 / H897 cm−1) and the lignin content (r = 0.965) and between the NIR band height at 5978 cm−1 (1673 nm) taken from spectra in the second derivative mode and the lignin content (r = 0.956). Furthermore, good linear correlations between the band–height ratios calculated from the MIR spectra and the amplitudes of the band around 5978 cm−1 (1673 nm) of NIR spectra in the second derivative mode were found for the calibration samples (r = 0.934) and for the fun...

Examination of Spruce Wood Biodegraded by Ceriporiopsis Subvermispora Using near and Mid Infrared Spectroscopy

Mechanical pulping process is electrical energy intensive and results in low paper strength. Biomechanical pulping, defined as the fungal treatment of lignocellulosic materials prior to mechanical pulping, has shown at least 30% savings in electrical energy consumption, and significant improvements in paper strength properties compared to the control at a laboratory scale. In an effort to scale-up biomechanical pulping to an industrial level, 50 tons of spruce wood chips were inoculated with the best biopulping fungus in a continuous operation and stored in the form of an outdoor chip pile for 2 weeks. The pile was ventilated with conditioned air to maintain the optimum growth temperature and moisture throughout the pile. The control and fungus-treated chips were refined through a thermomechanical pulp mill (TMP) producing lightweight coated paper. The fungal pretreatment saved 33% electrical energy and improved paper strength properties significantly compared to the control. Since biofibers were stronger than the conventional TMP fibers, we were able to reduce the amount of bleached softwood kraft pulp by at least 5% in the final product. Fungal pretreatment reduced brightness, but brightness was restored to the level of bleached control with 60% more hydrogen peroxide. The economics of biomechanical pulping look attractive.

/pdf/biomechanical-pulping-a-mill-scale-evaluation-3q65b65ahl.pdf

Biomechanical pulping: a mill-scale evaluation

Biopulping, defined as the treatment of ligoncellulosic materials with lignin-degrading fungi prior to pulping, is an environmentally friendly process that can increase mill throughput by 30%. The process reduces the electrical energy requirement by at least 30%. and also improves paper strength properties during mechanical pulping. Over a period of ten years, we established the economic feasibility of biopulping at a pilot scale after meeting both biological and engineering challenges. We identified a fungus, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora that performs biopulping very effectively on different types of wood and reduced its amount of inoculum to a Commercially attractive range. We also established that a brief atmospheric steaming decontaminates the wood chip surfaces, and allows the fungus to perform biopulping. Methods for decontaminating wood chip surfaces, cooling the chips after steaming, and inoculating them with the fungus on a continuous basis were developed. Methods were developed to maintain the optimum growth temperature and moisture in the chip pile so that the fungus could perform biopulping effectively and uniformly. An economic analysis was also performed which looks very attractive, and the process appears to fit well into a mill’s woodyard operations.

https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1997/akhta97b.pdf

Meeting biological and engineering challenges during scale-up of biopulping

Biopulping is the treatment of wood chips and other lignocellulosic materials with lignin-degrading fungi prior to pulping. Ten years of industry-sponsored research has demonstrated the technical feasibility of the technology for mechanical pulping at a laboratory scale. Two 50-ton outdoor chip pile trials recently conducted at the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, Wisconsin have established the engineering and economical feasibility of the technology. After refining the control and the fungus-treated chips through a thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill, the resulting pulps were made into papers on the pilot-scale paper machine at FPL. In addition to the 30% savings in electrical energy consumption during refining, improvements in the strength of the resulting paper were seen due to fungal pretreatment. Because of the stronger paper, we were able to substitute at least 5% kraft pulp in a blend of mechanical and kraft pulps. This recent work has clearly demonstrated that economic benefits can be achieved with biopulping technology through both the energy savings and substitution of the stronger biopulped TMP for more expensive kraft, while maintaining the paper quality.

https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1998/scott98e.pdf

David F. Shipley

Papers

Biomechanical pulping: a mill-scale evaluation

Meeting biological and engineering challenges during scale-up of biopulping

Incorporating biopulping technology into wood yard operations