Bioaugmentation of Corn Stalk Saccharification with Aspergillusfumigatus Under Low/High Solid Loading Culture

In this study, pretreatment of corn stalks with the cellulosic fungus Aspergillusfumigatus CLL was performed to enhance its saccharification. The effect of feedstock loading (10 g/L and 20 g/L) on corn stalk pretreatment performance and the effects of Trichodermareesei cellulase and commercial cellulase on the saccharification of pretreated corn stalks were investigated. The results indicated that with a solid loading of 10 g/L for 2 days at 30 degrees C, 25.2% lignin was degraded, whereas the degradation was only 2.8% under solid loading of 20 g/L. Pretreated corn stalks (solid loading 10 g/L for 2 days at 30 degrees C) saccharified by 300 U/L T.reesei cellulose exhibited 3.4 times higher sugar yields (67.9%) compared to the raw feedstocks, and the value was comparable with the saccharification performance of commercial cellulase (60.8%). These results demonstrated that A.fumigatus CLL not only decomposed the structure of corn stalks but also complemented the incomplete cellulase system of T.reesei. A.fumigatus CLL can be used to pretreat lignocellulosic materials to enhance the saccharification performance.

Automated summary

In this study, pretreatment of corn stalks with Aspergillus fumigatus CLL was found to significantly enhance saccharification by not only degrading lignin but also complementing the incomplete cellulase system, resulting in a significant increase in sugar yields.