Enzymatic approaches for diversifying bioproducts from cellulosic biomass.

Cellulosic biomass is the most abundantly available natural carbon-based renewable resource on Earth. Its widespread availability, combined with rising awareness, evolving policies, and changing regulations supporting sustainable practices, has propelled its role as a crucial renewable feedstock to meet the escalating demand for eco-friendly and renewable materials, chemicals, and fuels. Initially, biorefinery models using cellulosic biomass had focused on single-product platform, primarily monomeric sugars for biofuel.

The emergence of hybrid cellulose nanomaterials as promising biomaterials.

Cellulose nanomaterials (CNs) are promising green materials due to their unique properties as well as their environmental benefits. Among these materials, cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and nanocrystals (CNCs) are the most extensively researched types of CNs. While they share some fundamental properties like low density, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and low toxicity, they also possess unique differentiating characteristics such as morphology, rheology, aspect ratio, crystallinity, mechanical and optical properties.

High-yield production of rod-like and spherical nanocellulose by controlled enzymatic hydrolysis of mechanically pretreated cellulose.

In this study, a simple and scalable mechanical pretreatment was evaluated as means of enhancing the accessibility of cellulose fibers, with the objective of improving the efficiency of enzymatic reactions for the production of cellulose nanoparticles (CNs). In addition, the effects of enzyme type (endoglucanase - EG, endoxylanase - EX, and a cellulase preparation - CB), composition ratio (0-200UEG:0-200UEX or EG, EX, and CB alone), and loading (0 U-200 U) were investigated in relation to CN yield, morphology, and properties. The combination of mechanical pretreatment and specific enzymatic hydrolysis conditions substantially improved CN production yield, reaching up to 83 %.

Xylanase increases the selectivity of the enzymatic hydrolysis with endoglucanase to produce cellulose nanocrystals with improved properties.

Enzyme-mediated isolation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) is a promising environment friendly method with expected lower capital and operating expenditures compared to traditional processes. However, it is still poorly understood. In this study, an endoxylanase was applied as accessory enzyme to assess its potential to increase the selectivity of an endoglucanase during cellulose hydrolysis to isolate CNCs with improved properties.

Exploring the action of endoglucanases on bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp as potential catalyst for isolation of cellulose nanocrystals.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) is a high-value and emerging bionanomaterial with an increasing number of applications. The action of endoglucanases (EGs) from fungal and bacterial sources belonging to three glycosyl hydrolase (GH) families were investigated on bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp as potential catalysts to prepare CNC. Fungal GH7EG was the most efficient in hydrolysis and fiber fragmentation without altering crystallinity and crystallite size.