Enriched arabinoxylan in corn fiber for value-added products

Area of Science:

• Biomass valorization
• Biochemical engineering
• Agricultural waste utilization

Background:

• Wet milling of corn produces significant fiber byproducts.
• Corn fibers contain valuable hexose and pentose sugars.
• Efficient separation is key for producing value-added products from biomass.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a two-step process for separating hexose and pentose components from corn fibers.
• To optimize conditions for enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis and component recovery.
• To assess the potential for producing value-added products from separated corn fiber fractions.

Main Methods:

• Hot water pretreatment of corn fibers at 121°C followed by glucoamylase hydrolysis.
• Second hot water pretreatment at 140-170°C, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis.
• Analysis of enzymatic digestibility of cellulose and arabinoxylan.

Main Results:

• The two-step pretreatment significantly improved enzymatic digestibility of cellulose over arabinoxylan.
• Up to 90% of arabinoxylan was retained in solid form after enzymatic hydrolysis.
• Most hexose components were effectively removed from the corn fiber matrix.

Conclusions:

• The developed two-step process is effective for separating hexose and pentose sugars from corn fibers.
• This method facilitates the recovery of valuable arabinoxylan-rich solid fractions.
• The process shows promise for the biorefinery concept and value-added product generation from agricultural residues.