Enzymatic saccharification of Egyptian sugar-cane bagasse

The saccharification of crude bagasse (CB) with enzyme preparations of a potent local mutant Trichoderma viride (253-M16) was considerably improved by pretreating CB under a variety of conditions. Simple treatment of CB with 1% NaOH for 10 h at room temperature allowed the hydrolysis of about 12% of this bagasse after 6 days incubation. However, the saccharification yield was raised to about 54% when the alkali-treated bagasse was hydrolysed by 50% ammonium sulphate precipitated enzyme fraction. Further improvement (90% conversion estimate) was obtained using bagasse samples treated with sodium chlorite/NaOH and hydrolysed with 70% ammonium sulphate precipitated fraction. A similar high conversion yield was also recorded using H2SO4—sodium chlorite treated bagasse.