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Chestnut Shell as Unexploited Source of Fermentable Sugars: Effect of Different Pretreatment Methods on Enzymatic Saccharification

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Abstract

Chestnut shell (CS) is an agronomic residue mainly used for extraction of antioxidants or as adsorbent of metal ions. It also contains some polysaccharide that has not been considered as potential source of fermentable sugars for biofuel production until now. In this study, the effect of different pretreatment methods on CS was evaluated in order to obtain the greatest conversion of cellulose and xylan into fermentable sugars. Hot acid impregnation, steam explosion (acid-catalysed or not), and aqueous ammonia soaking (AAS) were selected as pretreatments. The pretreated biomass was subjected to saccharification with two enzyme cocktails prepared from commercial preparations, and evaluation of the best pretreatment and enzyme cocktail was based on the yield of fermentable sugars produced. As AAS provided the best result after preliminary experiments, enhancement of sugar production was attempted by changing the concentrations of ammonium hydroxide, enzymes, and CS. The optimal pretreatment condition was 10 % ammonium hydroxide, 70 °C, 22 h with CS at 5 % solid loading. After saccharification of the pretreated CS for 72 h at 50 °C and pH 5.0 with a cocktail containing cellulase (Accellerase 1500), beta-glucosidase (Accellerase BG), and xylanase (Accellerase XY), glucose and xylose yields were 67.8 and 92.7 %, respectively.

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Abbreviations

AAS:

Aqueous ammonia soaking

CS:

Chestnut shell

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Dr. Isabella De Bari, Dr. Francesco Zimbardi and Dr. Egidio Viola, from the Laboratory of Technology and Equipment for Biomass and Solar Thermal Energy, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development—ENEA, Rotondella, Italy, for determination of chemical composition of untreated CS and for steam explosion pretreatments. The authors also thank Mrs. Cristina Del Barone from the Institute of Polymer Chemistry and Technology—National Research Council of Italy, Pozzuoli, Naples for SEM microscopy.

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  1. Institute of Protein Biochemistry, National Research Council of Italy, Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Luisa Maurelli, Elena Ionata, Francesco La Cara & Alessandra Morana

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  1. Luisa Maurelli
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  2. Elena Ionata
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  3. Francesco La Cara
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  4. Alessandra Morana
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Correspondence to Alessandra Morana.

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Maurelli, L., Ionata, E., La Cara, F. et al. Chestnut Shell as Unexploited Source of Fermentable Sugars: Effect of Different Pretreatment Methods on Enzymatic Saccharification. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 170, 1104–1118 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-013-0264-5

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