Simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification: Green technology for enhanced sugar yields from biomass using a fungal consortium

• It reports a novel simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification (SPS) methodology.
• High level production of lignocellulases using fungal consortium is achieved.
• Efficient detoxification of biomass in SPS enhances final saccharification yield.
• High yield of biofuel production is achieved from reducing sugars obtained by SPS.

Two different biomasses were subjected to simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification (SPS) using a cocktail of hydrolytic and oxidizing enzymes. Application of a novel laccase as a detoxifying agent caused the removal of 49.8% and 32.6% of phenolic contents from the soaked rice straw and willow, respectively. Hydrolysis of soaked substrates using a newly developed fungal consortium resulted in saccharification yield of up to 74.2% and 63.6% for rice straw and willow, respectively. A high saccharification yield was obtained with soaked rice straw and willow without using any hazardous chemicals. The efficiency of each step related to SPS was confirmed by atomic force microscopy. The suitability of the developed SPS process was further confirmed by converting the hydrolysate from the process into bioethanol with 72.4% sugar conversion efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the development of a less tedious, single-pot, and eco-friendly SPS methodology.

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