Aminated lignin improved enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic substrate treated by p-toluenesulfonic acid

Lignin can affect the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of lignocellulose. In this study, the lignin isolated from sugarcane bagasse (SCB) pretreated with p-toluenesulfonic acid (PL) was firstly aminated, and then the effects of PL and aminated PL (APL) on the bagasse enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency (EHE) were investigated. The results showed that the addition of PL and APL promoted the EHE, and EHE with APL (73.82 %) was higher than PL (51.39 %). To explore the reason, the data were further analyzed including cellulase adsorption capacity, enzyme activity, cellulase-lignin interaction, and molecular docking. It was found that APL adsorbed more cellulase (27.83 mg protein/g lignin) than PL (4.96 mg protein/g lignin), resulting from the greater interaction force and lower binding free energy between APL and cellulase. The addition of APL more remarkably enhanced the cellobiohydrolase and endoglucanase activities than PL due to more effectively inducing cellulase conformation optimization. [Display omitted] •Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic substrate was enhanced from 45.83 % to 73.82 % by aminated lignin.•Aminated lignin adsorbed more cellulase molecules.•Activities of cellobiohydrolase (CBH) and endoglucosidase (EG) were promoted by aminated lignin.•Aminated lignin owned lower binding energy with cellulase.