Examining the potential of plasma-assisted pretreated wheat straw for enzyme production by Trichoderma reesei.

Plasma-assisted pretreated wheat straw was investigated for cellulase and xylanase production by Trichoderma reesei fermentation. Fermentations were conducted with media containing washed and unwashed plasma-assisted pretreated wheat straw as carbon source which was sterilized by autoclavation. To account for any effects of autoclavation, a comparison was made with unsterilized media containing antibiotics. It was found that unsterilized washed plasma-assisted pretreated wheat straw (which contained antibiotics) was best suited for the production of xylanases (110 IU ml(-1)) and cellulases (0.5 filter paper units (FPU) ml(-1)). Addition of Avicel boosted enzyme titers with the highest cellulase titers (1.5 FPU ml(-1)) found with addition of 50 % w/w Avicel and with the highest xylanase production (350 IU ml(-1)) reached in the presence of 10 % w/w Avicel. Comparison with enzyme titers from other nonrefined feedstocks suggests that plasma pretreated wheat straw is a promising and suitable substrate for cellulase and hemicellulase production.