Evaluation of Various Commercial Enzymes for Paper Sludge Saccharification

Abstract

Abstract Converting paper sludge (PS) into valuable products has multiple benefits including waste reduction, resource efficiency, economic opportunities, environmental advantages, product diversification, and regulatory compliance. This study evaluated the purity and efficiency of different commercial enzymes for saccharifying PS. The hemicellulase enzymes Sigma H2125, Sucrase X, Amano 90, and Amano G were assessed for their purity and performance on model compounds. It was found that all the studied commercial enzymes had contaminating residual saccharides varying from 3.3 to 60.0wt%. The most effective enzymes for model compound hydrolysis were Sigma H2125 and Sucrase X. They were, then, used with Sigma cellulase for PS saccharification. Sucrase X showed the highest efficiency in converting xylan in PS to xylose. Using Sigma cellulase and Sucrase X at 37 °C, a 71.6% conversion efficiency was achieved in PS saccharification. The study concluded that combining Sigma cellulase and Sucrase X was the preferred enzymatic approach to obtain monosaccharides from PS, enabling the manufacture of useful products such as biofuels and biochemicals from the paper-derived monosaccharides.