Enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation efficiency of rice straw by pretreatment of sodium perborate

In this study, we proposed a simple and effective sodium perborate (SPB) pretreatment method to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of rice straw (RS). The lignin removal rate reached 45.76% under the optimum pretreatment conditions of 8% SPB and 80 degrees C for 4 h, and the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of pretreated RS was 84% at a cellulase loading of 20 FPU/g RS. Through simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SScF) of the pretreated RS solid with Saccharomyces cerevisiae SHY07-1, the maximum ethanol concentration was 15.29 g/L at 72 h, with a fermentation efficiency as high as 91.96%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses revealed that the RS structure was destroyed by SPB pretreatment, and lignin was effectively removed. The overall data of this study indicate that SPB pretreatment is a promising method to improve enzymatic hydrolysis and bioethanol production from RS by inoculating Saccharomyces cerevisiae SHY07-1.

Automated summary

In this study, a simple and effective SPB pretreatment method was proposed to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of rice straw. The pretreated rice straw showed high enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency and bioethanol production through simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation.