An eco-friendly biocatalytic process for producing better quality paper from sugarcane bagasse using ultrafiltered enzymes concoction

In the current study, pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse has been carried out with ultrafiltered xylano-pectinolytic enzymes, before conventional chemical bleaching process. Optimized enzymatic dose (4 IU xylanase and 1.2 IU pectinase per g of oven dried pulp) and retention time (180 min) were determined on the basis of maximum decrement in kappa number (from 20.93 to 15.32), release of maximum sugars (7.4 mg/g) as well as attainment of maximum brightness (25.1% ISO), whiteness (from − 57.3 to − 41.9) and minimum yellowness (from 48.7 to 35.3) of the pulp samples. Enzymatically treated samples also showed release of phenolic, lignin and hydrophobic compounds in their filtrates. Nearly 30% decrement in the exhaustion of bleaching chemical dose was detected as compared to control samples. The physical properties such as tear index, burst index, double fold number, breaking length, gurley porosity and viscosity of enzymo-chemically treated bagasse pulp samples were improved by 6.68%, 33.86%, 22.92%, 13.43%, 17.5% and 9.64%, respectively. Additionally, a decrement of 36.75% and 28.29% in the values of BOD and COD of the effluents was also noted, which demonstrated the fact that, inclusion of enzymes in chemical based protocols of paper and pulp industries could be a highly beneficial and eco-friendly approach in upcoming decades. This is the first report mentioning the effect of ultrafiltered xylano-pectinolytic enzymes concoction on sugarcane bagasse pulp.