Bamboo fibre processing: insights into hemicellulase and cellulase substrate accessibility

Abstract

A biological approach for degumming bamboo substrates has been assessed. The ability of various commercially available enzymes, including cellulase, xylanase, pectinase and mannanase, to hydrolyze bamboo powders was investigated. In addition, a commercial cellulase preparation was applied onto bamboo fibre bundles obtained by natural retting. It was found that almost all enzymes applied can use bamboo material as a substrate. Mild autoclave pre-treatment can enhance reducing sugar yield from different enzyme treatments. A most pronounced effect was observed with cellulase treatment in which the hydrolysis degree increased 1.7 fold as measured by reducing sugars for autoclave pre-treated bamboo powders versus non-treated powders after only a short period of incubation. The combined treatment of hemicellulase preparations showed no effect on the hydrolysis of bamboo substrates. The effect of autoclave pre-treatment on cellulase-treated samples was confirmed by the increase of sugar yield, protein absorption as well as by the enhancement of surface modification and enzyme penetration observed by CLSM (confocal laser scanning microscopy). This work establishes a base for future studies to develop enzymatic hydrolysis of bamboo materials, making them suitable for textile processing.

Keywords::

• bamboo
• cellulase
• xylanase
• pectinase
• mannanase
• autoclave
• CLSM

Acknowledgements

This work was made possible by support from the earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Tech nology Research System (nycytx-19-E23), the European Union Biorenew Project [Sixth Framework Programme (FP6-2004-NMP-NI-4)] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JUSRP211A02).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.