Treatment with compressed liquefied petroleum gas and ultrasound to improve cellulase activity

The main goal of this work is to assess the influence of the treatment with pressurized liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and pressurized LPG combined with ultrasound on the activity of a commercial cellulase. Results showed that treatment with compressed LPG increased the catalytic power of cellulase. Comparing the gain or loss of enzyme activity in both systems it is possible to observe that, with few exceptions, higher activities were achieved (from 2.1±0.5 FPU.mL−1 (initial activity) to 8.0 FPU.mL−1 (after treatment)) when the combined treatment technique, compressed LPG and ultrasound, was employed, which corresponds to an enzymatic activity increase of about 381%. The use of pressurized LPG combined with ultrasound showed to be a promising procedure to be applied industrially to improve the activity of cellulases, increasing the efficiency of hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials.