Cellulose hemi-, utilization

Six subjects who were participants in a study on effects of several purified fibers on nutrient utilization and who were vegetarians were age, sex, height, weight and ethnic-group matched with six subjects from this series of studies who were omnivores. The laboratory-controlled diet fed to all subjects for 21-28 days was a lacto-vegetarlan type. The basal diet provided 10.10 mg of zinc and 14.7 g of fiber. Cellulose, hemi-cellulose or pectin were added to the basal diet to provide 20 g fiber/day in separate, randomly arranged period of 6 to 7 days each. 

Complete utilization of cellulose and hemicellulose requires selection or genetic modification of an organism that is able to ferment pentoses. In order to obtain monosaccharides from the raw material, several pretreatments and/or separations are required. First, the lignocellulosic material is mechanically treated and then delignified (pulped) by strong alkali or acid treatment. The (hemi)cellulose part becomes more accessible for enzymes at the same time. Subsequent enzymatic treatment mainly yields glucose and xylose and some arabinose. The enzymatic treatment and subsequent fermentation can be done in separate reactors or in one fermenter, in an SSF concept similar to starch SSF [57]. 

Pan W, Perrotta JA, Stipanovic AJ, Nomura CT, Nakas JP (2012) Production of polyhydroxy-alkanoates by Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17759 using a detoxified sugar maple hemi-cellulosic hydrolysate. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 39(3) 459-469 Parisi F (1989) Advances in lignocellulosics hydrolysis and in the utilization of the hydrolyzates. In Fiechter A (ed) Advances in biochemical engineering biotechnology, vol 38. Springer, Berlin... 

Surface-active compounds can be produced from all wood constituents. For instance, water-soluble cellulose derivatives and lignin, in the form of lignosulfonates, can be used as dispersing agents in many applications. This chapter focuses on the production of resin and fatty acids as well as sterols and sterol ethoxylates as forest-industry by-products, and their use as surface-active components. Moreover, the potential production of hemi-celluloses and their possible utilization as steric stabilizers of oil-in-water emulsions is also outlined. 

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