Enzymatic saccharification of brown seaweed for production of fermentable sugars

Abstract

This study shows that high drying temperatures negatively affect the enzymatic saccharification yield of the brown seaweed Saccharina latissima. The optimal drying temperature of the seaweed in terms of enzymatic sugar release was found to be 30°C. The enzymatic saccharification process was optimized by investigating factors such as kinetics of sugar release, enzyme dose, solid loading and different blend ratios of cellulases and an alginate lyase. It was found that the seaweed biomass could be efficiently hydrolysed to fermentable sugars using a commercial cellulase cocktail. The inclusion of a mono-component alginate lyase was shown to improve the performance of the enzyme blend, in particular at high solid loadings. At 25% dry matter loading a combined glucose and mannitol concentration of 74g/L was achieved.

Keywords: Biorefining; Kelp; Laminarin; Macroalgae; Mannitol.