Comparative efficiency of different pretreatment methods on enzymatic digestibility of Parthenium sp.

TLDR: Alkali (1 % NaOH) treatment proves to be the suitable method of pretreatment for lignin recovery and enhanced yield of reducing sugar which may be used for bioethanol production from Parthenium sp.

Abstract: The potential of Parthenium sp as a feedstock for enzymatic saccharification was investigated by using chemical and biological pretreatment methods Mainly chemical pretreatments (acid and alkali) were compared with biological pretreatment with lignolytic fungi Marasmiellus palmivorus PK-27 Structural and chemical changes as well as crystallinity of cellulose were examined through scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infra red and X-ray diffraction analysis, respectively after pretreatment Total reducing sugar released during enzymatic saccharification of pretreated substrates was also evaluated Among the pretreatment methods, alkali (1 % NaOH) treated substrate showed high recovery of acid perceptible polymerised lignin (753 ± 05 mg/g) and significantly higher amount of reducing sugar (5131 ± 410 mg/gds) compared to uninoculated Parthenium (1634 ± 212) after 48 h of hydrolysis This is the first report of lignolytic enzyme production from M palmivorus, prevalent in oil palm plantations in Malaysia and its application in biological delignification of Parthenium sp Alkali (1 % NaOH) treatment proves to be the suitable method of pretreatment for lignin recovery and enhanced yield of reducing sugar which may be used for bioethanol production from Parthenium sp