Use of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMO) to enhance the enzyme treatment for cellulose nano-fibrils (CNF) preparation

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This collaborative research project will be undertaken by Dr. Yonghao Ni and his team at the University of New Brunswick, in partnership with Domtar Inc. Cellulases such as endoglucanase and exoglucanase have shown the ability to facilitate refining and fibrillation, and with a cellulose pretreatment step, allows the total energy consumption to be lowered in the production of nano-cellulose (eg. NFC). However the cellulose action is usually not specific in breaking the inter-fibril bonding/fibrillation, and fiber shortening is inevitable, particularly under strong cellulase treatment conditions which are required in the NFC production process. The overall strategy of the proposed research uses accessory enzymes/proteins such as lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMO) to boost cellulase performance, in particular favouring the specificity towards fibrillation. This will lead to the development of cost effective cellulase/accessory enzymes/proteins pretreatment technology to substantially decrease the energy consumption in NFC production. The Canadian pulp and paper industry faces strong international competition. The results from this research in relation to nanocellulose products will benefit not only Domtar, the industrial partner but also other Canadian pulp and paper companies. Details/deliverables include: 1) Investigation of the fibrillation response of bleached kraft pulp fibers to LPMO enhanced enzymatic treatment in terms of refining energy, width, length, aspect ratio and their distribution of the resultant cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), as well as mechanical strength properties of the CNF's with optimized process conditions. 2) Determine the fundamentals of LPMO enhanced enzymatic pretreatment of bleached kraft pulp fibers. 3) Develop novel, cost effective and environmentally friendly LPMO enhanced exnymatic processes for the production of high quality CNF product from bleached kraft pulps.