STUDY OF ENZYMATIC SACCHARIFICATION OF PRIVILEGE GRASS (Panicum maximum Jacq) WITH AND WITHOUT BASIC PRETREATMENT

We quantified the effect of basic pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification OF Privilegio grass (PG) (Panicum maximum Jacq) to obtain fermentable sugars. Pretreatment conditions were 15% solids, 3.36% NaOH, 85 °C, 3 h, 100 rpm. Once concluded the pretreatment time, the material was filtered. For the filtrate, we determined total sugars (TS) and soluble lignin (ASL).The pretreated and no pretreated PG were saccharified under the following conditions: 4.5 g of lignocellulosic material, 1.75 mL enzyme cocktail (185 FPU / ml), 5% solids (90 mL of 50 mM citrate buffer, pH 4.8), 50 °C, 180 rpm, 1 hour. To deactive the enzyme, the flaks were placed for 5 minutes in boiling water. The samples were centrifuged to recover the supernatant and determine reduced sugars (RS) and TS. According to these results, approximately 50% of total lignin (22.48%) was removed by the basic pretreatment of PG, leaving the material exposed to the action of the enzyme cocktail; and a small amount of TS was solubilized (2.9%) from the PG (Total TS= 75.88%; Total RS 60.12%). In DS, we achieved a similar hydrolysis of TS and RS around 12.4 to 12.9%. Besides, the SWP allow the hydrolysis of a major amount of total and reducing sugars as seen in the above the Table which double the hydrolysis performance when compared to DS. It can be concluded that the effect of PTR is favorable for obtaining fermentable sugars. This can be attributed to the removal of a large amount of lignin during the basic pretreatment.