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Biofuel production from cellulosic biomass is a promising approach; however, the cost-intensive utilization of cellulolytic enzymes is a major roadblock to economic production. This study reports the preparation of a nanocatalyst using date seed and evaluates the impact of nanocatalysts on cellulolytic enzyme production using solid-state fermentation of date pulp waste through bacterial co-cultivation. Under optimized conditions, 30 IU/gds filter paper activity is produced in the presence of 2 mg of nanocatalyst. Cellulase showed thermal stability at 50 °C and pH 7 up to 10 h in the presence of nanocatalyst, and it produced 32.31 g/L glucose through the hydrolysis of acidic-pretreated date seeds in 24 h. Subsequently, 1788 mL/L of cumulative H 2 in 24 h through cocultured dark fermentation could be produced. The approach presented in this study can be effective for multiple value additions, including nanocatalyst preparation, cellulase enzyme, and biohydrogen production., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present investigation is targeted towards the facile fabrication of a carbon-based nanocatalyst (CNCs) using Kans grass biomass (KGB) and its sustainable application in microbial cellulase enhancement for the alleviation of enzymatic hydrolysis for sugar production. Different pretreatments, including physical, KGB extract-mediated treatment, followed by KOH pretreatment, have been applied to produce CNCs using KGB. The presence of CNCs influences the pretreatment of KGB substrate, fungal cellulase production, stability, and sugar recovery in the enzymatic hydrolysis of KGB. Using 1.0% CNCs pretreated KGB-based solid-state fermentation, 33 U/gds FPA and 126 U/gds BGL were obtained at 72 h, followed by 107 U/gds EG at 48 h in the presence of 0.5% CNCs. Further, 42 °C has been identified as the optimum temperature for cellulase production, while the enzyme showed thermal stability at 50 °C up to 20 h and produced 38.4 g/L sugar in 24 h through enzymatic hydrolysis of KGB., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Combined pretreatment methods were assumed to further enhance photo-fermentative biohydrogen production (PFHP) from lignocellulosic biomass. For this purpose, an ultrasonication assisted ionic liquid pretreatment was applied to Arundo donax L. biomass for PFHP. The optimal condition for the combined pretreatment was 16 g/L of 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Hydrogen Sulfate ([Bmim]HSO 4 ) combined with ultrasonication at a solid to liquid ratio (SLR) of 1:10 for 1.5 h under 60 °C. Under this condition, the maximum delignification of 22.9 % was obtained, in addition, the hydrogen yield (HY) and energy conversion efficiency (ECE) were enhanced by 1.5-fold and 46.4 % (p < 0.05) compared to untreated biomass, respectively. Moreover, heat map analysis was performed to evaluate the correlation between pretreatment conditions and corresponding results, suggesting pretreatment temperature had the strongest (absolute value of Pearson's r was 0.97) linear correlation with HY. Combined multiple energy production approaches might be useful for further improved ECE., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In the present study, filamentous algae, an emerging candidate for biofuel and other useful chemical production, has been investigated as a biological adsorbent for the removal of contaminants from synthetic wastewater. Operational parameters were optimized in batch phytoremediation experiments. The adsorption equilibrium isotherm models such as Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevitch and kinetics models such as pseudo-1st and pseudo-2nd order in methylene blue decolorization and Cr(VI) removal were also investigated. The D-R isotherm theory provided the best fit. The pseudo-2nd order model accurately described the adsorption kinetic data. Maximum adsorption capacities were observed to 5.03 mg.g -1 and 0.77 mg.g -1 along with removal efficiencies were achieved to 91.3% and 91.4% for methylene blue and Cr(VI) remediation, respectively. Moreover, intra-particle diffusion kinetic theory was used to describe the mechanism. These outcomes are significant in the development of algae-based zero-cost pollutants removal technology in wastewater treatment., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In the present study, pyrolysis of mangifera indica L., Artocarpus heterophyllus L. and jambolana seeds have been performed using thermogravimetric analysis. These biomasses have enriched lignocellulosic composition of hemicellulose (5-10%) and lignin (1-3%) which are unexplored. The TGA analysis was performed at various heating rates of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 °C/min from 25 to 600 °C. Kinetic investigation of the pyrolysis method using TGA statistics has been done using iso-conversional models of Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose, Vyazovkin and Vyazovkin AIC. The apparent activation energies value ranged from 179.86 to 226.31 kJ/mol in the fractional conversion range of 0.1 to 0.7., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

High production cost of cellulase enzyme is one of the main constraints in the practical implementation of biofuels at global scale. Therefore, the present investigation is focused to produce low-cost cellulase via sustainable strategies. This work evaluates to achieve enhanced fungal cellulase production using natural and pretreated sugar cane bagasse (SCB) via Rhizopus oryzae NS5 under the solid state fermentation (SSF) while implementing graphene oxide (GO) as a catalyst. A low alkali treatment showed better performance for cellulase production wherein 14 IU/gds FP activity is observed in 96 h using 0.5% alkali treated SCB, significantly higher as compared to 10 IU/gds FP in case of untreated SCB. Further, the effect of GO has been investigated on cellulase production, incubation temperature and pH of the production medium. Under the influence of 1.5% concentration of GO, alkali pretreated SCB produced maximum 25 IU/gds cellulase in 72 h at pH 5.0 and 40 °C., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In biomass to biofuels production technology enzyme plays a key role. Nevertheless, the high production cost of cellulase enzyme is one of the critical issues in the economical production of biofuels. Nowadays, implementation of nanomaterials as catalyst is emerging as an innovative approach for the production of sustainable energy. In this context, synthesis of nickel cobaltite nanoparticles (NiCo 2 O 4 NPs) via in vitro route has been conducted using fungus Emericella variecolor NS3 meanwhile; its impact has been evaluated on improved thermal and pH stability of crude cellulase enzyme obtained from Emericella variecolor NS3. Additionally, bioconversion of alkali treated rice straw using NiCo 2 O 4 NPs stabilized cellulase produced sugar hydrolyzate which is further used for H 2 production via hybrid fermentation. Total 51.7 g/L sugar hydrolyzate produced 2978 mL/L cumulative H 2 production after 336 h along with maximum rate 34.12 mL/L/h in 24 h using Bacillus subtilis PF&#95;1 and Rhodobacter sp. employed for dark and photo-fermentation, respectively., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present study reports Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 NPs) induced enhanced hydrogen production via co-fermentation of glucose and residual algal biomass (cyanobacteria Lyngbya limnetica). A significant enhancement of dark fermentative H 2 production has been noticed under the influence of co-fermentation of glucose and residual algal biomass using Fe 3 O 4 NPs as catalyst. Further, using the optimized ratio of glucose to residual algal biomass (10:4), ∼ 37.14 % higher cumulative H 2 has been recorded in presence of 7.5 mg/L Fe 3 O 4 NPs as compared to control at 37 °C. In addition, under the optimum conditions [glucose to residual algal biomass ratio (10:4)] presence of 7.5 mg/L Fe 3 O 4 NPs produces ∼ 937 mL/L cumulative H 2 in 168 h at pH 7.5 and at temperature 40 °C. Clostridum butyrium, employed for the dark fermentation yielded ∼ 7.7 g/L dry biomass in 168 h whereas acetate (9.0 g/L) and butyrate (6.2 g/L) have been recorded as the dominating metabolites., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)