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Effect of Urea on the Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Substrate and Its Mechanism

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Abstract

Effect of hydrogen bond breaker (urea) addition on the enzymatic hydrolysis of Avicel and eucalyptus pretreated by dilute acid (Eu-DA) was investigated. Urea enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis of Eu-DA at 50 or 30 °C when the concentration of urea was below 60 g/L, while it inhibited the hydrolysis of Avicel. Low concentration urea (< 240 g/L) had little effect on the cellulase spatial structure and its activity. But it decreased cellulase binding to cellulose surface to inhibit the cellulose hydrolysis. Meanwhile, urea obviously prevented the adsorption of cellobiohydrolase I (CBHI) on the lignin in spite of little effect on the adsorption of β-glucosidase (BGL) and two endoglucanases (EGIII and EGV) on lignin. It was proposed that urea enhanced the enzymatic efficiency of Eu-DA by decreasing the cellulase adsorption on lignin surface.

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Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial supports of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21676109, 21376100), Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (201707020025), and Guangdong Special Support Plan (2016TX03Z298).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Hongming Lou, Meilu Lin, Meijun Zeng, Cheng Cai, Yuxia Pang, Dongjie Yang & Xueqing Qiu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Hongming Lou & Xueqing Qiu

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  1. Hongming Lou
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Correspondence to Yuxia Pang.

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Lou, H., Lin, M., Zeng, M. et al. Effect of Urea on the Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Substrate and Its Mechanism. Bioenerg. Res. 11, 456–465 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-018-9910-7

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