Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

Evaluating the influence of enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment on the compositional structure of rice straw for enhanced biogas generation

¹Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Tropical AgriSciences, Dept. of Sustainable Technologies, Czech Republic
²Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Forestry and Wood Science, Dep. of Wood Processing and Biomaterials , Czech Republic
³Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Drift-Food Research Centre, Czech Republic

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass, especially agricultural waste such as rice straw, is a promising feedstock for biogas production due to its abundance. However, the accessibility of cellulose and hemicellulose is restricted by its complex structure, particularly the presence of lignin. Pretreatment techniques are required to disrupt the structural integrity, enhance cellulose and hemicellulose degradation and improve biofuel generation. The study focused on analyzing the changes of the primary structural component, cellulose hemicellulose and lignin, before and after enzymatic hydrolysis. The samples were characterized for the initial composition before the enzymatic pretreatment. Rice straw was pretreated using crude enzyme obtained from Aspergillus niger for 24 hours under controlled condition. After the treatment, samples are subjected to compositional analysis to determine the level of lignocellulosic component using standard analytical protocol. This study focus evaluating the changes in primary structural component (lignocellulosic) before and after enzymatic pretreatment. The results showed that the cellulose and hemicellulose content decreased significantly after pretreatment, suggesting the successful conversion to simpler sugar, which are crucial for subsequent biogas production processes. This indicated that enzymatic hydrolysis was effective in breaking down cellulose and hemicellulose, demonstrating its viability as a strategy for biomass conversion technology. This study highlights the importance of compositional analysis in assessing pretreatment and improving hydrolysis performance to produce biogas. A deeper understanding of the lignocellulosic component provides valuable insight for developing biomass conversion strategies to contribute in more sustainable and effective biogas production.

Keywords: Agricultural waste, biomass conversion, cellulose degradation, enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment, lignocellulosic biomass, straw

Contact Address: Hidayatul Fitri, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Tropical AgriSciences, Dept. of Sustainable Technologies, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic, e-mail: fitriftz.czu.cz