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A new Enzolv process for simultaneous delignification and lignin-derived chemical production from the woody biomass of Melia dubia

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Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop a new green process for simultaneous depolymerization and valorization of lignin into high-value chemicals to meet the requirement of lignocellulosic biorefinery. A new Enzolv process for the delignification of the woody biomass of Melia dubia was developed using thermosolvent stable laccase (LccH) obtained from Hexagonia hirta MSF2. LccH showed enhanced initial activity of 127% and stability in the presence of ethanol, with 122% of its activity retained for 17 h. The process involved steam pretreatment of M. dubia biomass followed by laccase treatment (50 U.mL−1) in the presence of ethanol (2%) at 40 °C for 17 h. A maximum of 48% reduction in lignin and 52% availability of cellulose from woody biomass for further hydrolysis were obtained. Scanning electron microscopic analysis of the biomass revealed significant morphological and structural changes because of the Enzolv process. Significant lignin removal was observed by FT-IR, while an increase in cellulose content with a 20% increase in relative crystallinity compared to untreated biomass was observed by X-ray diffraction. This process also generated high-value chemicals such as benzaldehyde, isothiazole, propionic acid, benzene dicarboxylic acid, vanillin, and isovanillin during delignification.

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Funding

The authors are grateful to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for financial support through a competitive grant No/BT/PR/8625/PBD/26/27/2007 and SERB for financial support through EEQ No. EEQ/2020/000583 given to SU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biocatalysts Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, India

    Iniya Kumar Muniraj & Sivakumar Uthandi

  2. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Amrita School of Agricultural Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, JP Nagar, Arasampalayam, Coimbatore, 642 109, India

    Iniya Kumar Muniraj

  3. Department of Agroforestry, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu, India

    P. V. Anbu & K. T. Parthiban

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  1. Iniya Kumar Muniraj
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  4. Sivakumar Uthandi
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Contributions

Conceptualization: US. Data curation and formal analysis: IKM, PVA. Funding acquisition: US. Methodology: US, KTP, IKM, PVA. Project administration: US. Writing original draft: IKM, US, and PVA. Writing-review and editing: US.

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Correspondence to Sivakumar Uthandi.

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Muniraj, I.K., Anbu, P.V., Parthiban, K.T. et al. A new Enzolv process for simultaneous delignification and lignin-derived chemical production from the woody biomass of Melia dubia. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 14557–14571 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03084-x

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