Abstract
Water hyacinth is a rapidly growing troublesome aquatic weed plant, which causes eutrophication in water bodies and irreversible damage to the ecological system. In this work, we have investigated the water hyacinth biomass (WHB) hydrolysis efficacy of dilute alkaline (DA) pretreatment followed by biological pretreatment with white-rot fungus Alternaria alternata strain AKJK-2. The effectiveness of the dilute alkaline (DA) and biological pretreatment process on WHB was confirmed by using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR), and was further visualized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM). XRD spectra showed the increase in the crystallinity of pretreated samples, attributed to the elimination of amorphous components as lignin and hemicellulose. FTIR peak analysis of pre-treated WHB showed substantial changes in the absorption of cellulose functional groups and the elimination of lignin signals. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed firm, compact, highly ordered, and rigid fibril structures without degradation in the untreated WHB sample, while the pretreated samples exhibited loose, dispersed, and distorted structures. XRD indices (Segal, Landis, and Faneite), and FTIR indices [Hydrogen bond intensity (HBI); Total crystallinity index (TCI); and Lateral order crystallinity (LOI)] results were similar to the aforementioned results, and also showed an increase in the crystallinity both in alkaline and biological pretreatments. Alkaline pretreated WHB, with these indices, also showed the highest crystallinity and a crystalline allomorphs mixture of cellulose I (native) and cellulose II. These results were further validated by the CLSM, wherein fluorescent signals were lost after the pretreatment of WHB over control. Overall, these findings showed the significant potential of integrated assessment tools with chemical and biological pretreatment for large-scale utilization and bioconversion of this potential aquatic weed for bioenergy production.
Highlights
Bioethanol is used as a sustainable eco-friendly alternative to conventional fossil fuels for mitigating the global energy problem, and a reduction in greenhouse gases [1,2,3].The conflict between food and fuel for the production of first-generation bioethanol from starch and sugary food resources is a major issue from the food safety point of view [4,5].to circumvent the competition with food, the utilization of profusely available and non-edible plant parts, including agricultural crop wastes and fast-growing aquatic weed plants as a feedstock, is being attempted nowadays [6,7,8,9]
The amphigenous lesion is initially small on a leaf; at maturity, these lesions spread on the whole leaf with regular effuse colonies that are amphiphyllous, black, include the mycelium of hyphae and well-developed stroma, and conidiophores, which arise in a group that is straight, flexuous, simple, or branched
The Faneite index, which is used for effective Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) analysis, resulted in more consistent and easy-to-understand numerical values, but only for samples without cellulose I
Summary
Bioethanol is used as a sustainable eco-friendly alternative to conventional fossil fuels for mitigating the global energy problem, and a reduction in greenhouse gases [1,2,3].The conflict between food and fuel for the production of first-generation bioethanol from starch and sugary food resources is a major issue from the food safety point of view [4,5].to circumvent the competition with food, the utilization of profusely available and non-edible plant parts, including agricultural crop wastes and fast-growing aquatic weed plants as a feedstock, is being attempted nowadays [6,7,8,9]. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes; Family-Pontederiaceae, related to the Liliaceae family) is a competent cellulosic biomass for the generation of renewable fuels (second-generation ethanol) as well as a source of sustainable energy because it has a high carbohydrate and low lignin content compared to other biomass types, and because of its indiscriminate invasive production in some aquatic ecosystems [10,11]. In water hyacinth biomass (WHB), the amount of lignin (10%) is less, and the amount of cellulose (20%) and hemicelluloses (33%) are high [8] This plant depletes oxygen, increases biological oxygen demand, and disturbs the nutrient balance between water bodies, which results in reducing aquatic biodiversity and increasing the rate of evapotranspiration, which could alter irrigation, shipping, and fishing [8]. Many recent studies have showed its potential for the production of biogas [14,15], charcoal briquettes blended with molasses, which could be used as fuel in rural areas [16], biodiesel [17], and carboxymethyl cellulose [18]
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