Enzymatic hydrolysis of potato pulp

Potato pulp constitutes a complicated system of four types of polysaccharides: cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and starch. Its composition makes it a potential and attractive raw material for the production of the second generation bioethanol. The aim of this research project was to assess the usefulness of commercial enzymatic preparations for the hydrolysis of potato pulp and to evaluate the effectiveness of hydrolysates obtained in this way as raw materials for ethanol fermentation.

Sterilised potato pulp was subjected to hydrolysis with commercial enzymatic preparations. The effectiveness of the preparations declared as active towards only one fraction of potato pulp (separate amylase, pectinase and cellulase activity) and mixtures of these preparations was analysed. The monomers content in hydrolysates was determined using HPLC method.

The application of amylolytic enzymes for potato pulp hydrolysis resulted in the release of only 18% of raw material with glucose as the dominant (77%) constituent of the formed product. In addition, 16% galactose was also determined in it. The hydrolysis of the cellulose fraction yielded up to 35% raw material and the main constituents of the obtained hydrolysate were glucose (46%) and arabinose (40%). Simultaneous application of amylolytic, cellulolytic and pectinolytic enzymes turned out to be the most effective way of carrying out the process as its efficiency in this case reached 90%. The obtained hydrolysate contained 63% glucose, 25% arabinose and 12% other simple substances.

The application of commercial enzymatic preparations made it possible to perform potato pulp hydrolysis with 90% effectiveness. This was achieved by the application of a complex of amylolytic, cellulolytic and pectinolytic enzymes and the hydrolysate obtained in this way contained, primarily, glucose making it a viable substrate for ethanol fermentation.