PRODUCTION OF FUNGAL PLANT CELL WALL DEGRADING ENZYMES ON WET-OXIDISED WHEAT STRAW XYLAN

摘要

In Denmark, the wet-oxidation (WO) process has been used for fractionating wheat straw [10], where most of the hemicellulose is solubilised mainly as oligomers and polymers and the cellulose retained as a solid. In wheat straw, hemicellulose is an arabino-4-O-methylglucurono xylan, which, in addition to xylose, contains arabinose, 4-O-Me-D-glucuronic acid, and acetic acid substituents [9]. Some arabinosyl groups may be esterified with ferulic or p-coumaric acids. Most micro-organisms used for lactate, ethanol or xylitol production do not produce enzymes for hemicellulose hydrolysis. Acid or enzymatic hydrolysis is needed to convert the sugar polymers to monomers. A problem associated with dilute acid hydrolysis is the poor fermentability of the produced hydrolysates compared with enzymatic hydrolysis.