Sheet n°252 - October 2006

Developing uses for sugar-cane

bagasse: biotechnology applied
S ugar-cane bagasse is a
fibrous waste-product of
the sugar refining industry, to the paper industry
along with ethanol vapour.

© IRD/Esther Katz
Part of the great volume of
this waste produced is recy-
cled as a raw material for
paper manufacture, but the
industrial processing required
for delignification and blea-
ching of the resulting paper
pulp can be damaging for
the environment. Seeking to
overcome these drawbacks,
IRD researchers (UMR 180)
and INRA (UMR 1163) (1),
working jointly within IFR-
BAIM (Biotechnologies Agro-
Sugar cane for sale at Tiacolula market, Mexico.
Industrielles de Marseille),
have elaborated a new bio-
process that transforms the The principal raw material used for manu- However, whatever the raw material used,
bagasse into paper pulp and facturing paper pulp is wood. However, paper pulp has to undergo processing stages
also produces an industrially growing demand in the paper industry, at of delignification and bleaching to turn it into
useful enzyme, laccase. The a time of dwindling forest resources, have high-strength and durable paper. In some
process is based on the meta- compelled the sector to turn to other sour- countries the chemical processing involved still
bolism of a filamentous fungus ces of raw materials, such as cereal straw, entail the use of chlorine, dangerous for both
reeds, bamboo or sugar-cane bagasse. This health and the environment (2).
which, when raised in culture
residue, obtained after crushing of the cane,
on bagasse in the presence of is already used as a source of paper-making Research scientists from the IRD and INRA
ethanol, produces this enzy- fibres in producer countries (in South America studied an alternative, biologically based, solu-
me. Laccase breaks down and India for example, where it represents tion. Laboratory experimentation enabled them
the lignin in the cane waste, 20 % of the paper production). The industry to develop a non-polluting process, which at
changing the latter into paper absorbs 10% of the world bagasse production. the same time yields a delignifying enzyme,
pulp. Preliminary laboratory This material offers several advantages: rapid laccase, from a culture of a filamentous fungus
trials show that this integrated growth of the sugar-cane plant, widespread and effectively recycles the sugar-cane bagas-
cultivation, lower energy and bleaching chemi- se. Its principle lies in the specific metabolic
bioprocess can be adapted to
cal requirements for bagasse refining. Such a characteristics of this fungus, Pycnoporus cin-
other potential fibre-yielding process is also a convenient means of usefully nabarinus, which produces laccase naturally.
materials, opening up promi- clearing this voluminous sugar refinery waste This enzyme breaks down the lignin in the
sing applications for the paper product: indeed, one tonne of refined sugar fibres of bagasse used as substrate in these
industry. results in two tonnes of bagasse. trials, transforming this waste product, after

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Institut de recherche pour le développement - 213, rue La Fayette - F-75480 Paris cedex 10 - France - www.ird.fr
Sheet n°251 - Octobre 2006
For futher information
CONTACTS :
RICHARD AURIA
IRD UR 180, IFR 86 de bio-
technologie Agro-Industrielle
de Marseille, ESIL,
Université de Provence et de
la Méditerranée, Marseille
Tel : +33 (0)4 91 82 85 68.
rauria@esil.univ-mrs.fr
JEAN-CLAUDE SIGOILLOT
INRA UMR 1163
Université de Provence
et de la Méditerranée de
Biotechnologie des cham-
pignons filamenteux, ESIL-
GBMA, same address.
Tel : +33 (0)4 91 82 86 23.
jcs@esil.univ-mrs.fr
PRESS OFFICE:
+33 1 48 03 75 19 ;
presse@paris.ird.fr
INDIGO BASE, IRD PICTURE LIBRARY
+33 1 48 03 78 99 ;
indigo@paris.ird.fr
REFERENCES:
JUAN CARLOS MEZA,
JEAN-CLAUDE SIGOILLOT,
ANNE LOMASCOLO, DAVID
NAVARRO AND RICHARD AURIA
– New Process for fungal
Delignification of Sugar-Cane
Bagasse and Simultaneous
Production of Laccase in
a Vapor Phase Bioreactor,
Journal of Agricultural and
Food Chemistry, 2006, 54, p.
3852-3858. DOI : 10.1021/
jf053057j
JUAN CARLOS MEZA, ANNE
LOMASCOLO, LAURENCE
CASALOT, JEAN-CLAUDE
SIGOILLOT, RICHARD AURIA
- Laccase production by
Pycnoporus cinnabarinus
grown on sugar-cane bagas-
se : Influence of ethanol
vapours as inducer, Process
Biochemistry, 2005, 40 p.
3365-3371.
KEY WORDS
SUGAR-CANE BAGASSE,
BIOTECHNOLOGY,
INDUSTRIALLY APPLICABLE
ENZYME,
PYCNOPORUS CINNABARINUS,
PAPER INDUSTRY.
mechanical refining, into paper pulp. As the
lignin progressively disappears, the pulp obtai-
ned becomes bleached. This pulp can be used
as it is to make cardboard, but it must undergo
additional treatment using hydrogen peroxide
in order to yield paper for printed and writing.
P. cinnabarinus naturally sythesizes only
small amounts of laccase when it grows on
bagasse. It is necessary to add volatile agents
such as ethanol, in order to increase produc-
tion of the enzyme under these conditions (3).
Ethanol was chosen as a laccase-inducer in
this study because of its abundance, its low
toxicity and low production cost. The research
team moreover showed that if it was put into
the system by forced convection at a rate of 7
g of ethanol per m3 (concentration equivalent
to 3° of alcohol in the liquid phase), laccase
production increased, to a maximum level (90
U per g of dry bagasse support). This amounts
to 45 times the yield obtained without ethanol.
Moreover, it appeared that little or no etha-
nol introduced was consumed by the fungus
which preferentially uses other sources of car-
bon, resulting from the bagasse (saccharose)
or put in with the substrate (maltose, yeast
extracts and so on). It can therefore be recy-
cled in the system or eliminated in a second
system associated with it (4).
Replication of the fermentation trials at a
larger scale, in an 18 litre bioreactor, confir-
med the efficiency of the laccase production
obtained using bagasse and ethanol (90 000 U
per kg of dry bagasse after 30 days, represen-
ting the quantity needed for processing, without
input of fungus, an extra 4 kg of bagasse). This
bioprocess resulted in a 50% saving in energy
consumption required for paper pulp refining,
compared with that recorded for refining pulp
from bagasse that had not been biologically
treated. Another benefit came in the form of a
© INRA/Instituto de Microbiología de Pekín, China.
Marie Guillaume - Signoret, coordinatrice
Délégation à l’information et à la communication
Tél. : +33(0)1 48 03 76 07 - fax : +33(0)1 40 36 24 55 - fichesactu@paris.ird.fr
35% improvement in the paper’s mechanical
characteristics (tensile strength and tear resis-
tance) without appreciable loss of material.
The results as a whole emphasize the poten-
tial for applications of this bioprocess in the
paper industry. Retrieval of the laccase at the
end of the cycle, after washing and pressing
of the bagasse, allows additional quantities
of the substrate to be processed and, in this
way, raise the profitability of the operation.
Furthermore, this process can be adapted to
the processing of other raw materials (wood,
cereals). Investigation of the use of methanol
as laccase inducer can, similarly, be envisaged
as a way of recycling this compound, which
constitutes one of the main pollutants emitted
by the paper industry.
(1) Each of these teams is a partner of the
Universities of Provence and the Mediterranean
They are grouped together within the research
entity IFR 86-BAIM.
(2) In Europe, however, the paper industry is
turning increasingly towards completely chlo-
rine-free processes.
(3) Lomascolo et al.- Overproduction of laccase
by a monokarryotic strain of Pycnoporus cin-
nabarinus, using ethanol as inducer, J. Appl.
Microbiol. 2003, 94, p. 1-7.
(4) Other research conducted by the IRD,
working jointly with the UAM (Autonomous
University of Mexico) of Mexico City and the
ICIDEA (Cuban Institute of Research on Sugar-
cane derivatives) of Cuba, have shown that a
yeast, Candida utilis, can be used to produce
biomass on the bagasse. It can thus provide a
protein-rich feed for animals, while eliminating
ethanol in the process (air pollution removal).
See the scientific bulletin n°155, May 2002,
on line on www.ird.fr/fr/actualites/fiches/2002/
fiche155.htm.
Marie Guillaume-Signoret - IRD
Translation : Nicholas Flay
White wood rot fungus of the genus
Pycnoporus.