Extraction, characterization and hydrolysis of polysaccharides of Landoltia punctata biomass to obtain fermentable sugars

• Grant number: 14/20521-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2015
• End date: June 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Celia Maria Landi Franco
• Grantee: Marcia Maria de Souza Moretti
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/22136-0 - Molecular and crystalline structures and their effect on the enzymatic susceptibility of different granular starches, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The declining production of fossil fuels and air pollution problems caused by the use of these encouraged research by biofuels such as bioethanol. However an increase in the production of ethanol from cane sugar can lead to excessive expansion of sugarcane plantations in Brazil, causing new problems and compromising other areas of agricultural crops. Thus, the use of macrophyte biomass as an alternative source of sugars for fermentation can reduce the need for higher cane plantations. The difficulty encountered in the use of aquatic macrophytes is related to its chemical composition. Due to be produced in the wastewater polishing process have lower percentages of starch. Currently there is an extensive search for processes to enrich the starch of floating macrophytes, in particular those of the family Lemnaceae sp. known as duckweed. Thus, this project proposes to study the enrichment of starch accumulation by macrophytes Landoltia punctata obtained through the polishing process of domestic sewage. It is also proposed, pre-treatment of dry biomass Landoltia punctata using a pectinase enzyme to facilitate the release of starch. In order to know the effects of enrichment and pretreatment studies of physico-chemical characterization of biomass (compositional analysis, ATR-FTIR, TG, DTG and DSC) will be performed. The biomass of duckweed enriched and pretreated will be subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis using amylase, pullulanase and amyloglucosidase. Finally, the hydrolyzate is subsequently fermented by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae P2, aiming at the production of ethanol.