Screening of potential IL-tolerant cellulases and their efficient saccharification of IL-pretreated lignocelluloses

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass as one of the most abundant and renewable resources has great potential for biofuel production. The complete conversion of biomass to biofuel is achieved through the effective pretreatment process and the following enzyme saccharification. Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered as a green solvent for lignocellulose pretreatment. However, ILs exhibit an inhibitory effect on cellulase activity, leading to a subsequent decrease in the efficiency of saccharification. The screening of new potential IL-tolerant cellulases is important. In the current study, a fungal strain with a relatively high cellulase production was isolated and identified as <i>Penicillium oxalicum</i> HC6. The culture conditions were optimized using corn stover and peptone as the carbon source and nitrogen source at pH 4.0 and 30 °C with an inoculation size of 2% (v/v) for 8 days. It was found that <i>P. oxalicum</i> HC6 exhibited potential salt tolerance with the increase of the enzyme production at a salt concentration of 5.0% (w/v). In addition, high enzyme activities were obtained at pH 4.0-6.0 and 50-65 °C. The crude enzyme from <i>P. oxalicum</i> HC6 with good thermal stability was also stable in the presence of salt and ILs. Good yields of reducing sugar were obtained by the crude enzyme from <i>P. oxalicum</i> HC6 after the saccharification of corn stover that was pretreated by ILs. <i>P. oxalicum</i> HC6 with potentially salt-tolerant and IL-tolerant enzymes has great potential application in the enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulose.