The development of zero waste biorefineries is a promising yet challenging pathway towards a sustainable bioeconomy. Deep insights on the composition of biorefineries side streams along with the development of green technologies are mandatory to achieve such goal. In this paper, a sustainable pilote scale membrane process was used to recover valuable organic matter dissolved in the main side stream of a thermomechanical pulping (TMP) plant. A great number of analytical tools were combined to get an extensive characterisation of the generated fraction, including ICP-AES, HPIC-PAD, FTIR, SEC, 13
Centella asiatica is a herbaceous plant of Asian traditional medicine. Besides wound healing, this plant is recommended for the treatment or care of various skin conditions such as dry skin, leprosy, varicose ulcers, eczema, and/or psoriasis. Triterpene saponins, known as centellosides, are the main metabolites associated with these beneficial effects. Considering the interest in these high value active compounds, there is a need to develop biosustainable and economically viable processes to produce them. Previous work using C. asiatica plant cell culture technology demonstrated the efficient conversion of amyrin derivatives into centellosides, opening a new way to access these biomolecules. The current study was aimed at increasing the production of centellosides in C. asiatica plant cell cultures. Herein, we report the application of a new elicitor, coronatine, combined with the addition of amyrin‐enriched resins as potential sustainable precursors in the centelloside pathway, for a positive synergistic effect on centelloside production. Our results show that coronatine is a powerful elicitor for increasing centelloside production and that treatments with sustainable natural sources of amyrins enhance centelloside yields. This process can be scaled up to an orbitally shaken CellBag, thereby increasing the capacity of the system for producing biomass and centellosides.
Catalytic depolymerization of lignin is a challenging process due to competitive repolymerization reactions. In this paper, the oxidative depolymerization of lignin was catalyzed by a commercial laccase both in a batch experiment and in a membrane bioreactor using the same catalytic conditions. The membrane bioreactor was previously optimized to reach high permeation flux (25 L.h-1 .m-2) during lignin diafiltration. While the lignin was exclusively condensed in the batch experiment leading to high molecular weight macromolecules (from 9 to 16 kDa), its depolymerization was effective in the bioreactor producing fragments of less than 1 kDa thanks to the in-situ extraction of the reaction products. This paper demonstrates that the reactor configuration is playing an essential role in triggering or preventing lignin condensation. It also reports the first proof-of-concept demonstrating that in-situ membrane extraction of the reactive fragments of lignin from the bulk medium can be useful against detrimental repolymerization reactions.
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