Production of Food-Grade Glucose from Rice and Wheat Residues Using a Biocompatible Ionic Liquid
Azmat Mehmood Asim, Maliha Uroos, Nawshad Muhammad, Jason P. Hallett
Abstract
The anticipated high future demand for food proteins has led to the advent of mycoprotein, which involves carbohydrate sugars as the primary carbon source. In this work, nonfood rice and wheat residues have been utilized to produce food-grade glucose using an ionic liquid. A biocompatible ionic liquid (IL) based on food-grade cholinium hydroxide and lysine has been evaluated for its potential to remove undesirable components such as, lignin and hemicellulose from rice and wheat straws. The cellulose pulp, thus obtained, was subsequently hydrolyzed into glucose by using food-grade enzymes. The optimum delignification efficiency of the IL is 87% at 120 °C after 8 h pretreatment. The optimum yield of food-grade sugar was 77% from cellulose pulp after processing at 100 °C for 8 h. The analysis of the pulp and lignin was made using compositional analysis, FT-IR, TGA, and SEM techniques, whereas glucose was quantified using HPLC. The food-grade glucose may be used in the food industry or pharmaceuticals, but this study aims at synthesizing mycoprotein in the future.