Comparison of different fungal enzymes for bleaching high-quality paper pulps

Wild and recombinant hydrolases and oxidoreductases with a potential interest for environmentally sound bleaching of high-quality paper pulp (from flax) were incorporated into a totally chlorine free (TCF) sequence that also included a peroxide stage. The ability of feruloyl esterase (from Aspergillus niger) and Mn2+-oxidizing peroxidases (from Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Pleurotus eryngii) to decrease the final lignin content of flax pulp was shown. Laccase from Pycnoporus cinnabarinus (without mediator) also caused a slight improvement of pulp brightness that was increased in the presence of aryl-alcohol oxidase. However, the best results were obtained when the laccase treatment was performed in the presence of a mediator, 1-hydroxybenzotriazol (HBT), enabling strong delignification of pulps. The enzymatic removal of lignin resulted in high-final brightness values that are difficult to attain by chemical bleaching of this type of pulp. A partial inactivation of laccase by HBT was observed but this negative effect was strongly reduced in the presence of pulp. The good results obtained with the same laccase expressed in A. niger at bioreactor scale, revealed the feasibility of using recombinant laccase for bleaching high-quality non-wood pulps in the presence of a mediator.