Functional cello-oligosaccharides production from the corncob residues of xylo-oligosaccharides manufacture

An integrated process has been developed, consisting of the “adsorption-separation” of cellulase enzymes to selectively remove β-glucosidase, and multi-stage enzymatic hydrolysis of corncob residues from xylo-oligosaccharides manufacture with the β-glucosidase deficient cellulase, aiming to obtain a high yield of cello-oligosaccharides production. After the “adsorption-separation” process, 79.50% of the endo-glucanase was retained in substrate, whereas 90.67% of β-glucosidase was removed with the separated liquid fraction, utilizing the different adsorbability of these enzymes to the substrate. A three-stage enzymatic hydrolysis of corncob residues with the β-glucosidase deficient cellulase was proposed in which the first, the second and the third stage were conducted for 6, 6 h and 12 h, respectively. Analysis indicated that the removal of hydrolysis products (glucose and cello-oligosaccharides) at each stage improved cello-oligosaccharides productivity and enzymatic hydrolysis yield. The cello-oligosaccharides yield and enzymatic hydrolysis yield in three-stage enzymatic hydrolysis were significantly improved to 51.78% and 75.56%, respectively, which were 36.00% and 25.10% higher than single-stage hydrolysis with original cellulase enzymes.