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An eco-friendly EnZolv pretreatment optimization in banana fiber biomass using response surface methodology (RSM) and its structural characterization

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Abstract

An EnZolv is a recently developed novel pretreatment technique used for efficient delignification in lignocellulosic biomass and recognized as a greener approach. Mostly, banana fiber was pretreated by chemical process which causes environmental pollution and for the first time, we report here EnZolv-based banana fiber biomass pretreatment and its optimization using response surface methodology (RSM). Thus, the present study aimed to optimize the influential parameters in EnZolv process for banana fiber biomass delignification. Pre-optimization studies resulted in an increased cellulose recovery and lignin reduction when banana fiber was pretreated at 100% moisture content, incubated at 40 °C temperature, with enzyme load of 50 U per gram of biomass for an incubation time of 5 h at a shaking speed of 100 rpm. Based on pre-optimization, the EnZolv pretreatment process for banana fiber was optimized using RSM in Box-Behnken design which revealed enhanced cellulose recovery (74.7%) at 100% initial moisture content of substrate using laccase enzyme load of 50 U g−1 of biomass, and incubation time of 5.7 h at a temperature of 40 °C and shaking at 100 rpm. Biophysical and structural analysis of treated biomass revealed a reduction in lignin peak intensity at lignin region in FTIR spectrum, deconstruction of biomass as visualized in scanning electron microscope image, increased crystallinity (62.7%) of biomass by XRD analyses, and thermal stability of pretreated biomass analyzed by TGA. The EnZolv process generated industrially important high-value compounds like vanillin, benzaldehyde, hydroquinone, hydroxytoluene, and benzoic acid during the delignification process. All the biophysical techniques and generated lignin-derived compounds validated the efficiency of the optimized EnZolv conditions in banana fiber biomass. Thus, the result from the manuscript will be highly useful for eco-friendly pretreatment-based research on lignocellulosic biomass.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article.

Abbreviations

ANOVA:

analysis of variance

CrI:

crystallinity index

CV:

coefficient of variance

FT-IR:

Fourier-transform infrared

LCB:

lignocellulosic biomass

NREL:

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

RSM:

response surface methodology

SEM:

scanning electron microscopy

TGA:

thermogravimetric analysis

UTBF:

untreated banana fiber

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

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Funding

The authors are grateful to ICAR-CIRCOT–CRP (CRP-TNAU.02) on Natural Fibers “Bioprocessing of Natural fibers and agro-residues for production of oligosaccharides and starch” for financial support to SU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biocatalysts Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641003, India

    Oviya Govindaraj, Gopal Nellaiappan Olaganathan & Sivakumar Uthandi

  2. ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, Adenwala Road, Matunga, Mumbai, 400019, India

    Raja ASM

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  1. Oviya Govindaraj
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  2. Gopal Nellaiappan Olaganathan
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  3. Raja ASM
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Contributions

Sivakumar Uthandi received the financial support, conceptualized the workflow, and designed the experiments; Oviya Govindaraj performed all the experiments and wrote the manuscript; Nellaiappan Olaganathan Gopal supervised the workflow and assisted in manuscript preparation; Sivakumar Uthandi, Nellaiappan Olaganathan Gopal, and Raja ASM reviewed and corrected the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sivakumar Uthandi.

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Govindaraj, O., Olaganathan, G.N., ASM, R. et al. An eco-friendly EnZolv pretreatment optimization in banana fiber biomass using response surface methodology (RSM) and its structural characterization. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 1329–1342 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04829-y

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