Utilisation of wheat bran as a substrate for bioethanol production using recombinant cellulases and amylolytic yeast

Highlights: • A cocktail of recombinant cellulases was proposed for wheat bran hydrolysis. • Optimal conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat bran were determined. • Recombinant amylolytic strains completely hydrolysed the starch in wheat bran. • Addition of cellulases to SSF with amylolytic strains enhanced ethanol yield. - Abstract: Wheat bran, generated from the milling of wheat, represents a promising feedstock for the production of bioethanol. This substrate consists of three main components: starch, hemicellulose and cellulose. The optimal conditions for wheat bran hydrolysis have been determined using a recombinant cellulase cocktail (RCC), which contains two cellobiohydrolases, an endoglucanase and a β-glucosidase. The 10% (w/v, expressed in terms of dry matter) substrate loading yielded the most glucose, while the 2% loading gave the best hydrolysis efficiency (degree of saccharification) using unmilled wheat bran. The ethanol production of two industrial amylolytic Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, MEL2[TLG1-SFA1] and M2n[TLG1-SFA1], were compared in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) for 10% wheat bran loading with or without the supplementation of optimised RCC. The recombinant yeast S. cerevisiae MEL2[TLG1-SFA1] and M2n[TLG1-SFA1] completely hydrolysed wheat bran's starch producing similar amounts of ethanol (5.3 ± 0.14 g/L and 5.0 ± 0.09 g/L, respectively). Supplementing SSF with RCC resulted in additional ethanol production of about 2.0 g/L. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the effectiveness of both RCC and engineered amylolytic strains in terms of cellulose and starch depolymerisation. This study demonstrated that untreated wheat bran could be a promising ready-to-use substrate for ethanol production. The addition of crude recombinant cellulases improved ethanol yields in the SSF process and S. cerevisiae MEL2[TLG1-SFA1] and M2n[TLG1-SFA1] strains can efficiently convert wheat bran's starch to ethanol.