Abstract
A comprehensive understanding of the factors and ability of cellulase enzyme to completely hydrolyze the structural lignocellulosic biomass has been a major research focus over the years. A comparative analysis of cellulose-cellulase digestibility of Kraft-pretreated sawdust from twenty different Nigeria wood wastes was carried out with increasing enzyme (Trichorderma viride) loading of 0.4 mg cm−3, 1.0 mg cm−3, 2.0 mg cm−3, and 4.0 mg cm−3 at constant substrate application of 10 mg cm−3 biomass concentration, temperature of 40°C and 2 h incubation period. This was carried out in order to establish the optimum cellulase-cellulose ratio for maximum biodegradation of the lignocellulosic biomass to produce glucose, a fermentable sugar. The influence of the cellulose-cellulase interaction from 0.4 mg cm−3 to 1.0 mg cm−3 enzyme treatment resulted in 144% increase in glucose yield from E. suaveolen and 121% from S. pustlatas. while 2.0 mg cm−3 cellulase concentration gave 674%, 641% and 617% increase from E.suaveolen, H. ciliate and A. germinans respectively. A general trend of increasing sugar formation was observed with an increasing enzyme loading due to enhanced cellulose accessibility by the cellulase enzyme leading to effective saccharification of the lignocellulosic materials for more sugar production. However, further increase of 4.0 mg cm−3 enzyme concentration failed to produce a commiserate amount of fermentable sugar.
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