Agro-industrial Lignocellulosic Biomass: A Sustainable Platform for the Production of α-amylase and xylanase A

Authors

Rajeev Ravindran, Technological University Dublin

Document Type

Theses, Ph.D

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

Environmental sciences

Publication Details

A THESIS SUCCESSFULLY SUBMIITTED TO THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2018.

Abstract

Enzymes such as α-amylase and xylanase offer potential for numerous industrial applications such as food, beverage, and animal feed production, detergents, textile, cosmetics and biodiesel production. Economic factors such as achievement of optimum yields and production cost are the main deterrents in the industrial use of these enzymes. Enzymes are generally produced via microbial fermentation using expensive mediums which account for 30 to 40% of the production cost. Food industry wastes such as spent coffee waste (SCW) and Brewers’ spent grain (BSG) are two of the most common food waste products expelled by the food and beverage industry here in Ireland and are environmental burden. However, these inexpensive food wastes can be utilized as a substrate for the production of enzymes, which can significantly reduce the production cost of the enzymes and also enhance the value of underutilized food waste. Based on the above facts, the aim of this study is to exploit the lignocellulosic food industry waste such as BSG and SCW for the production of industrially viable enzymes such as α-amylase and xylanase. Although high in polysaccharide content, the effective utilisation of SCW and BSG requires specific pretreatment measures that result in a decrease in recalcitrance by removal of the lignin fraction. The aim of the project was achieved through the following objectives: ▪ Identification and development of the best pretreatment strategy for SCW and BSG that would enhance their enzymatic digestibility and liberation of higher amount of fermentable sugars. ▪ Optimisation of SCW and BSG for the production of enzymes such as α-amylase and xylanase. The effect of the pretreatments was primarily analysed as changes that occurred in the composition of SCW and BSG. A number of analytical techniques were used to characterise the pretreated waste samples, including FTIR, FESEM, XRD and DSC.

Recommended Citation

RAVINDRAN, R. (2018) Agro-industrial Lignocellulosic Biomass: A Sustainable Platform for the Production of α-amylase and xylanase A, Doctoral Thesis, Technological University Dublin.