Use of an extruder for pre-mixing enhances xylanase action on wheat bran at low water content

Outi Santala*, Emilia Nordlund, Kaisa Poutanen

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The aim of the work was to test the hypothesis that at low water content enzyme action on biomass is enhanced when the raw material is in the form of a continuous mass instead of powder/granular form. Effects of two pre-mixing methods, blade-mixing and extrusion, on xylanase action were studied during stationary incubation of wheat bran of different particle sizes, also in comparison with incubation at high water content with continuous stirring. The use of an extruder enhanced arabinoxylan (AX) solubilisation at low water content (<54%), as compared to blade-mixing. AX solubilisation was highest in the high-water stirring treatment, but based on molecular weight, xylanase action on solubilised AX was similar as in the extrusion-aided process. Pre-mixing by extrusion enabled efficient enzyme action at low water content without the requirement for continuous mixing, probably due to the enhanced diffusion by the formation of a continuous mass in the extruder.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)191-199
    JournalBioresource Technology
    Volume149
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013
    MoE publication typeNot Eligible

    Keywords

    • enzymatic hydrolysis
    • high solids
    • mixing
    • particle size
    • wheat bran

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