Effect of three kinds of biological pretreatments on substrate characteristics and sugar yield by enzymatic hydrolysis of Eichhornia crassipes biomass

This study compared the enzymatic saccharification of Eichhornia crassipes (EC) biomass after three kinds of biological pretreatments, i.e. commercial fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium (P. chrysosporium), self-screened degumming bacteria CTS-BQ1, and commercial pectinase pretreatment. The chemical composition and sugar yield under enzymatic hydrolysis of EC substrate were determined. The results showed that P. chrysosporium could oxidize and remove lignin, but consumed part of the cellulose; Self-screened degumming bacteria and commercial pectinase removed part of the non cellulose ingredients, and improved the efficiency of reducing sugar yield of the obtained substrate more apparently than P. chrysosporium. Among the three biological pretreatments, pretreatment by self-screened degumming bacteria was the most suitable one due to its higher reducing sugar yield of 202.99 mg/g substrate, which increased by 25.21 mg/g substrate compared to its control and had a sugar conversion rate of 29.24% based on substrate after pretreatment. [Display omitted] •Eichhornia crassipes (EC) was pretreated by three biological pretreatment methods.•Phanerochaete chrysosporium could oxidize and remove lignin.•Self-screened degumming bacteria and pectinase removed non-crystalline components.•Reducing sugar yield of EC was significantly improved by all the bio-pretreatments.•Self-screened degumming bacteria has the advantage of high efficiency.