Pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass using ultrasound aiming at obtaining fermentable sugar

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the activity of the cellulase enzyme forward the use of ultrasound technology in different conditions of temperature, pH and exposure time, as well, to match the steps of pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis in one step. A central composite design (CCRD) and response surface analysis were used to evaluate the effect of ultrasound power, temperature and pH on enzyme activity. Optimum condition in the studied range was 30% for ultrasound power, pH 4.6 and 50 °C, yielding an enzyme activity of 15.5 UPF/mL. From this, we carried out kinetics of enzymatic hydrolysis on filter paper and bagasse malt, in optimized conditions. Total reducing sugars (TRS) were 3.85 and 0.46 mg/mL when the filter paper and bagasse malt were used as substrate, respectively. Ultrasound showed to be a good technology to increase the enzyme activity aiming to intensify enzymatic processes.