Enzymatic production of xylooligosaccharides from corn cobs: Assessment of two different pretreatment strategies

Corn cobs (CCs) are abundant xylan-rich agricultural wastes. Here, we compared CCs XOS yields obtained via two different pretreatment routs, alkali and hydrothermal, using a set of recombinant endo- and exo-acting enzymes from GH10 and GH11 families, which have different restrictions for xylan substitutions. Furthermore, impacts of the pretreatments on chemical composition and physical structure of the CCs samples were evaluated. We demonstrated that alkali pretreatment route rendered 59 mg of XOS per gram of initial biomass, while an overall XOS yield of 115 mg/g was achieved via hydrothermal pretreatment using a combination of GH10 and GH11 enzymes. These results hold a promise of ecologically sustainable enzymatic valorization of CCs via green and sustainable XOS production.

Automated summary

In this study, the XOS yields from corn cobs (CCs) were compared using alkali and hydrothermal pretreatment routes with a set of recombinant endo- and exo-acting enzymes from GH10 and GH11 families. The impact of the pretreatments on the chemical composition and physical structure of CCs samples was also evaluated. The results showed that alkali pretreatment route produced 59 mg of XOS per gram of initial biomass, while hydrothermal pretreatment with a combination of GH10 and GH11 enzymes achieved an overall XOS yield of 115 mg/g. These findings highlight the potential of enzymatic valorization of CCs for sustainable XOS production.