• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.1244-1252
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• 2013

Sugar beet pulp is an abundant industrial waste material that holds a great potential for bioethanol production owing to its high content of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectin. Its structural and chemical robustness limits the yield of fermentable sugars obtained by hydrolyzation and represents the main bottleneck for bioethanol production. Physical (ultrasound and thermal) pretreatment methods were tested and combined with enzymatic hydrolysis by cellulase and pectinase to evaluate the most efficient strategy. The optimized hydrolysis process was combined with a fermentation step using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain for ethanol production in a single-tank bioreactor. Optimal sugar beet pulp conversion was achieved at a concentration of 60 g/l (39% of dry weight) and a bioreactor stirrer speed of 960 rpm. The maximum ethanol yield was 0.1 g ethanol/g of dry weight (0.25 g ethanol/g total sugar content), the efficiency of ethanol production was 49%, and the productivity of the bioprocess was 0.29 $g/l{\cdot}h$, respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.474-478
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• 2018

Thermal decomposition of waste Achyranthes Root (WAR) emitted from its decoction process was investigated using a TG analyzer and a fixed-bed reactor. The WAR had the larger C and fixed carbon content than fresh AR (FAR) due to the extraction of hemicelluloses from FAR during decoction process. Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis results also revealed the elimination of hemicellulose by its decoction. Relatively high contents of the cellulose and lignin made high contents of their typical pyrolyzates, such as acids, ketones, furans, and phenols, in the pyrolysis of WAR using the fixed-bed reactor. The increase of pyrolysis temperature from 400 to $500^{\circ}C$ increased yields of oil and gas due to the more effective cracking efficiency of WAR at a higher temperature. The chemical composition of product oil was also changed by applying the higher pyrolysis temperature, which increased the selectivity to furans and phenols.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.43-50
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• 2008

Adsorption of xylans extracted from birchwood and oat spelt on Hw-BKP were analyzed using HPLC. The effect of xylan adsorption on paper properties such as tensile, tear index and brightness was also investigated. The constituents of xylan was analyzed with HPLC after hydrolysis with dilute sulfuric acid. It was shown that xylose was the major constituent and small amounts of glucose and galactose were contained in the xylan samples. Adsorption of xylan on hardwood fibers was evaluated using acid hydrolysis and HPLC techniques. Results showed that the adsorption of negatively charged xylan on the fiber surface was negligible probably because electrostatic repulsion between these two materials. Pretreatment of the fiber with alum increased xylan adsorption. The amount of adsorption increased up to 30 mg/g. With the increase of xylan adsorption both tensile and tear strength of the handsheet increased suggesting xylan can be a very effective strength agents for papermaking. Brightness of the handsheets decreased, however, with the use of xylan.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.147-155
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• 2012

Switchgrass was selected as a promising biomass resource for bioethanol production through popping pretreatment, enzymatic saccharification and fermentation using commercial cellulase and xylanase, and fermenting yeast. The reducing sugar yields of popping pretreated switchgrass after enzymatic saccharification were above 95% and the glucose in thesaccharificaiton solution to ethanol conversion rate after fermentation with $Saccharomyces$ $cerevisiae$ was reached to 89.6%. Chemical compositions after popping pretreatment developed in our laboratory were 40.8% glucose and 20.3% xylose, with much of glucose remaining and only xylose decreased to 4.75%. This means that the hemicelluloses area broke off during popping pretreatment. FE-SEMexamination of substrate particles after popping pretreatment was showed fiber separation, and tearing and presence of numerous micro pores. These changes help explain, enhanced enzymatic penetration resulting in improved hydrolysis of switchgrass particles after popping pretreatment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.1282-1287
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of xylanase on net energy for production, performance, nutrient digestion and gut microflora of broilers fed corn/soy-based diet. Eighty-four day-old male broiler chicks were allocated to two groups receiving two treatments, respectively. Each treatment had six replicate cages with seven broilers per cage. The diets were based on corn and soybean. The treatments were: i) basal diet reduced in apparent metabolizable energy (-0.63 MJ/kg compared to commercial diet specifications); ii) basal diet supplemented xylanase at 4,000 u/kg feed. The experiment used the auto-control, open circuit respiration calorimetry apparatus to examine the heat production and net energy for production. The results revealed that xylanase supplementation did not affect growth performance and diet AME value, but increased $NE_p$ value by 18.2% (p<0.05) and decreased daily heat production per $kg^{0.75}$ by 31.7% (p<0.05). There was no effect (p>0.05) of xylanase supplementation on the ileal digestibility of N and hemicelluloses, but the ileum digestibility of energy was increased by 2% by xylanase supplementation (p<0.05). Xylanase supplementation increased (p<0.05) the count of lactobacillus and bifidobacterial in the caecum.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.108-116
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: Certain crop-based waste materials have been recognized as cost-effective and highly efficient adsorbents for removal and recovery of different kind of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. The ability is strongly attributed to the carboxyl functional group of some pectin substances such as galacturonic acid often found in fruit peels. The present manuscript was aimed at assessing the potential applicability of banana peel for metal removal from contaminated waters. METHODS AND RESULTS: As revealed by laboratory investigations, banana peel contains pectin (10-21%), lignin (6-12%), cellulose (7.6-9.6%), and hemicelluloses (6.4-9.4%). The pectin extraction is reported to have glucose, galactose, arabinose, rhamnose, xylose, and galactouroninc acid. Several studies conducted under different conditions proved that banana peel is capable of adsorbing 5.71, 2.55, 28.00, 6.88, 7.97, and 5.80 mg/g of $Cd^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, $Pb^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$, respectively, from aqueous solutions. Adsorption capacity is, however, dependent upon several factors including solution pH, dose of adsorbent and metal concentration, contact time and shaking speed. CONCLUSION(S): Since the annual world production of banana exceeds 100 million tons, about 40 million tons of banana peel (40% of total weight of the fresh fruit) remains vastly unused. Exploring a sound technology with banana peel would therefore, not only address the much needed sustainable tool for cleaning contaminated waters, but of course bring an additional value to the banana industry worldwide.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.254-264
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• 2010

To obtain an efficient natural lignocellulolytic complex enzyme, we screened an efficient lignocellulose-degrading composite microbial system (XDC-2) from composted agricultural and animal wastes amended soil following a long-term directed acclimation. Not only could the XDC-2 degrade natural lignocelluloses, but it could also secrete extracellular xylanase efficiently in liquid culture under static conditions at room temperature. The XDC-2 degraded rice straw by 60.3% after fermentation for 15 days. Hemicelluloses were decomposed effectively, whereas the extracellular xylanase activity was dominant with an activity of 8.357 U/ml on day 6 of the fermentation period. The extracellular crude enzyme noticeably hydrolyzed natural lignocelluloses. The optimum temperature and pH for the xylanase activity were $40^{\circ}C$ and 6.0. However, the xylanase was activated in a wide pH range of 3.0-10.0, and retained more than 80% of its activity at $25-35^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.0-8.0 after three days of incubation in liquid culture under static conditions. PCR-DGGE analysis of successive subcultures indicated that the XDC-2 was structurally stable over long-term restricted and directed cultivation. Analysis of the 168 rRNA gene clone library showed that the XDC-2 was mainly composed of mesophilic bacteria related to the genera Clostridium, Bacteroides, Alcaligenes, Pseudomonas, etc. Our results offer a new approach to exploring efficient lignocellulolytic enzymes by constructing a high-performance composite microbial system with synergistic complex enzymes.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.169-169
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• 2011

Xylans are polysaccharides present in large amounts in cell walls of land plants. However, during kraft cooking, a high portion of hemicelluloses including xylans are dissolved in the cooking liquor. In the current trend for a more effective utilization of biomass, attention has been paid to the exploitation of xylans as strength-enhancing additives for paper. It is believed that surface xylan adds flexibility to the cell wall/fiber surface, resulting in stronger fiber-fiber joints or greater contact area between the fibers. Accordingly, there is proposal for a new pulping process involving the extraction of xylan prior to pulping, followed by their re-adsorption on the unbleached pulp. A suitable bleaching process should be employed then, which ought to does not only improve the brightness of the pulp, but also remain the effect of the adsorption of xylan on pulp fibers. The objective of this research was to investigate the impact of hydrogen peroxide bleaching on the properties of unbleached hardwood kraft pulp pretreated with birchwood xylan by measuring optical properties (brightness, post color number, opacity) as well as physical properties (tensile index, tearing index, bulk) of handsheets made from the bleached pulp. In the meantime, the influence of process variables of peroxide bleaching including bleaching temperature, time, initial pH and $MgSO_4$ dosage were studied.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.420-428
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• 2011

The distribution of arabino-4-O-methylglucuronoxylans (AGXs) and O-acetyl-galactoglucomannans (GGMs) in warts and the warty layer of tracheids in normal wood (NW) and compression wood (CW) of Cryptomeria japonica was investigated. Under field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) observation, warts and the warty layer of delignified NW and CW tracheids were degraded by xylanase treatment, indicating that warts and the warty layer contain high amounts of AGXs. However, the effect of xylanase was not observed in NW and CW tracheids before delignification, suggesting that AGXs in warts and the warty layer may be encrusted with lignin. After ${\beta}$-mannanase treatment, no noticeable changes were observed in warts and the warty layer of NW tracheids, indicating that warts and the warty layer contain either no or very few GGMs. Similar results to FE-SEM observations were also observed with immunogold labeling. AGX labeling was observed in warts and the warty layer of NW and CW tracheids, while GGM labeling was not detected. NW tracheids showed a much stronger density of AGX labeling than did CW tracheids in warts and the warty layer, indicating differences in the chemical compositions of warts and the warty layer between NW and CW tracheids.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.520-527
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• 2009

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L) is a high-quality forage for ruminants and the main stem is the dominant morphological component contributing to the forage nutritive value in mature alfalfa forage. Shearing force, a fracturing property of plant stem, is an important indictor of forage value. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of morphological characteristic on shearing force, the relationship between shearing force and chemical composition, and the relationship between shearing force and in situ digestibility of alfalfa stem. The results showed that linear density (weight per unit length of stem) was more important than chemical composition in affecting shearing force. There was a positive relationship between lignin content and shearing force (r = 0.78). Correlations were not found between shearing force and other chemical components such as neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), cellulose and hemicelluloses. In situ digestibility (of dry matter and NDF) was related to shearing force. A negative correlation was found between shearing force and dry matter (DM) digestibility (r = -0.70), and there was also a negative correlation between shearing force and NDF digestibility (r = -0.87). When shearing force was standardized for stem diameter or stem linear density, the relationship between shearing force and digestibility was consistent regardless of stem diameter and stem linear density. Shearing force was significantly correlated with lignin content and in situ digestibility (of DM and NDF), and was a more direct indicator for estimating forage nutritive value related to animal performance, so it can be used to predict the forage value of alfalfa.