Immobilized Nanoparticles-Mediated Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulose for Clean Sugar Production: A Novel Approach

摘要

Background: Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose is an expensive approach due to the highcost of an enzyme involved in the process. The goal of the current study was to apply magneticnanomaterials as a support for immobilization of enzyme, which helps in the repeated use of immobilizedenzyme for hydrolysis to make the process cost-effective. In addition, it will also providestability to enzyme and increase its catalytic activity.Objective: The main aim of the present study is to immobilize cellulase enzyme on MagneticNanoparticles (MNPs) in order to enable the enzyme to be re-used for clean sugar production fromcellulose.Methods: MNPs were synthesized using chemical precipitation methods and characterized by differenttechniques. Further, cellulase enzyme was immobilized on MNPs and efficacy of free and immobilizedcellulase for hydrolysis of cellulose was evaluated.Results: Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose by immobilized enzyme showed enhanced catalytic activityafter 48 hours compared to free enzyme. In first cycle of hydrolysis, immobilized enzyme hydrolyzedthe cellulose and produced 19.5 ± 0.15 gm/L of glucose after 48 hours. On the contrary, freeenzyme produced only 13.7 ± 0.25 gm/L of glucose in 48 hours. Immobilized enzyme maintained itsstability and produced 6.15 ± 0.15 and 3.03 ± 0.25 gm/L of glucose in second and third cycle, respectivelyafter 48 hours.Conclusion: This study will be very useful for sugar production because of enzyme binding efficiencyand admirable reusability of immobilized enzyme, which leads to the significant increase inproduction of sugar from cellulosic materials.