Abstract
Partial enzymatic hydrolysis is a green alternative to chemical processes to facilitate the isolation of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). In this work, we compared the production of CNFs from two sugarcane bagasse substrates (bleached and bleached-sulfonated) using partial enzymatic hydrolysis with the commercial cocktail Cellic CTec3®, followed by ultrasonication. The effect of pretreatments and enzyme dosage on CNF properties and yields were evaluated. Mild enzymatic hydrolysis applied to sulfonated samples using only 0.312 mg enzyme/g substrate for 6 h increased CNF yield up to 2.5-fold and resulted in micrometer length fibers with an average diameter between 5 and 6 nm, as demonstrated by detailed morphological characterization of the substrates. These results were achieved due to the combination of the delignification steps and sulfonation, which enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis and fibrillation efficiency. Furthermore, combining enzymatic hydrolysis and sulfonation increased the CNF thermal stability (56–111 °C for bleached and 87–97 °C for bleached and sulfonated samples). These results demonstrated a pivotal role of enzymes in green CNF production and revealed the optimized hydrolysis/pretreatment conditions for manufacturing CNFs with advanced properties using enzymatic mixtures.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES) for project funding. The authors also thank INCT/INOMAT for TEM access, Prof. Fernando Galembeck for AFM access, and Dr. Douglas S. da Silva (in memoriam) for his technical support.
Funding
This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) (grants 2015/13684-0, 2018/23769-1, 2019/19360-3, 2021/12071-6 and 2021/08780-1) and by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (grants 306852/2021-7 and 420031/2018-9). This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.
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Aissata Ousmane Kanea, Eupidio Scopeb have contributed equally to this work.
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Kane, A.O., Scopel, E., Cortez, A.A. et al. Enzyme-assisted production of cellulose nanofibers from bleached and bleached/sulfonated sugarcane bagasse: impact of sulfonation on nanocellulose properties and yields. Cellulose 30, 11507–11520 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05600-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05600-2