The Influence of Trichoderma viride Cellulase Enzyme Concentration on Saccharification of Waste Paper Materials

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials is one of the major steps in the commercialization process of converting cellulosic substrates into bio-products. The saccharification of lignocellulosic materials is usually achieved by a synergistic action of an enzyme mixture consisting of multiple cellulase enzymes such as endo-and exo-glucanase, cellobiohydrolase and β-glucosidase with different mode of actions. During the enzymatic hydrolysis of the paper materials the process started with an initial fast rate of hydrolysis followed by a rapid decrease of the rate towards the end of hydrolysis. Obtained from this investigation showed a direct relationship between sugar concentration released and increasing enzyme concentration used during the saccharification process. Most paper materials showed maximum sugar production at an enzyme concentration of 20 mg/mL except filter paper that was maximally degraded at an enzyme concentration of 10 mg/mL, brown envelope paper at an enzyme concentration of 10 mg/mL producing a sugar concentration of 13.22 mg/mL and resulted in a percentage saccharification of 18%. Pick ‘n Pay paper yielded the lowest amount of sugar (5.8 mg/mL) when treated with a very high enzyme concentration of 30 mg/mL causing a percentage saccharification of 19%. Although most paper materials were maximally bio-degraded with the same cellulase concentration the ratio of enzyme concentration to mass of paper material degraded is unique for each paper material.