Refining Enzymes - a mechanistic study

Description

Commercial enzyme formulations for pulp refining processes show a high potential for energy saving and thus help to convert paper mills into sustainable bio-refineries. The use of commercial enzyme formulations is convenient, but the number of different products present in the market is enormous which makes prediction of their performance difficult. Due to the large complexity of different formulations as well as the high variety of included enzymes, a lot of knowledge about the enzymes and their effects on pulp and paper products is needed. For example, misuse or unwanted machine downtimes can cause fiber damage by the enzymes, which makes control strategies essential. Therefore, comparative studies of the effects of commercial enzyme formulations on fiber refining were conducted. Moreover, endoglucanases were purified from the respective enzyme formulations and tested in laboratory refining trials along with a commercial endoglucanase enzyme formulation to allow a mechanistic study. Extensive basic characterisation of the enzymes involved assessment of their hydrolytic activities on different model substrates like derivatized cellopentaose (CellG5), carboxymethylcellulose or filter paper as well as on different pulps (softwood or hardwood sulfate). Further studies using sophisticated techniques like CLSM (confocal laser scanning microscopy) using fluorescently labelled carbohydrate binding modules, HPLC and NMR indicated the major role of endoglucanases in refining with concomitant need of beta-glucosidases to avoid end-product inhibition. Combination of enzyme assays, refining trials and imaging technologies revealed that the refining effect can be best predicted based on activity on the model substrate CellG5.

Period	19 May 2022
Event title	Paper & Biorefinery Conference 2022: Paper for Future
Event type	Conference
Location	Graz, AustriaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International