Enzyme-treated chicory for cosmetics: application assessment and techno-economic analysis.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) is an important industrial crop that produces large quantities of the dietary fiber inulin in its roots. Following inulin extraction, the bagasse is typically used as animal feed, but it contains numerous bioactive secondary metabolites with potential applications in healthcare and cosmetic products.

Fibrolytic enzyme treatment prior to ensiling increased press-juice and crude protein yield from grass silage.

Grass is a versatile raw material for green biorefineries and preserving it as silage provides a year-round feedstock. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of fibrolytic enzyme application on silage as a feedstock for a biorefinery. Two batches of grass (mixture of timothy and meadow fescue) silages were ensiled in pilot scale after fibrolytic enzyme was applied to them at four levels.

Enzymatic degradation of sulfite-pulped softwoods and the role of LPMOs.

Background: Recent advances in the development of enzyme cocktails for degradation of lignocellulosic biomass, especially the discovery of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs), have opened new perspectives for process design and optimization. Softwood biomass is an abundant resource in many parts of the world, including Scandinavia, but efficient pretreatment and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of softwoods are challenging. Sulfite pulping-based pretreatments, such as in the BALI™ process, yield substrates that are relatively easy to degrade.

Hydrothermal treatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization as means to valorise agro- and forest-based biomass residues.

The suitability of several abundant but underutilized agro and forest based biomass residues for hydrothermal treatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis as well as for hydrothermal carbonization was studied. The selected approaches represent simple biotechnical and thermochemical treatment routes suitable for wet biomass. Based on the results, the hydrothermal pre-treatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis seemed to be most suitable for processing of carbohydrate rich corn leaves, corn stover, wheat straw and willow.

Development of a low-cost cellulase production process using for Brazilian biorefineries.

Background: During the past few years, the first industrial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants have been inaugurated. Although the performance of the commercial cellulase enzymes used in this process has greatly improved over the past decade, cellulases still represent a very significant operational cost. Depending on the region, transport of cellulases from a central production facility to a biorefinery may significantly add to enzyme cost.