Parchment as a Potential Feedstock for Production of Sugars by Enzymatic Hydroly

Abstract

The possibility of conversion of parchment to glucose by enzymatic hydrolysis using enzyme preparations (EP) based on fungi of the genera Penicillium and Trichoderma was studied. Parchment was hydrolyzed at 50 °C and pH = 5 under constant stirring. The dosage of cellulase EP (P. verruculosum B1-221-131 and T. reesei BioACE) was respectively 10 and 15 enzyme units with respect to filter paper per 1 g of dry substrate. The process was carried out both in the absence and in the presence of excess cellobiase (β-glucosidase) of P. verruculosum F10. It was found that the conversion of parchment to glucose can achieve 70 % without any pretreatment. It is shown that the cellulase EP from P. verruculosum provides a higher yield of glucose than the EP from T. reesei does. Cellobiase (β-glucosidase) plays an important role in the hydrolysis of parchment wastes: in the presence of excess cellobiase, hydrolytic ability of cellulase EP increases. Thus, the possibility of using the parchment as a raw material for production of sugars and, further, of other valuable products is demonstrated.