Modification of Surface Structure and Crystallinity of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) Following Recombinant α-L-arabinofuranosidase (ABFA) Treatment

This research was aimed to investigate the modification of surface structure and crystallinity of water
hyacinth after recombinant α-L-arabinofuranosidase treatment. The process of water hyacinth
hydrolysis was optimized first, by determination of the most optimal intracellular enzyme (P) and
extracellular enzyme (S) mixture ratio, and its incubation time. The optimum of water hyacinth
hydrolysis process was achieved at ratio P:S = 1:2, after 8 h incubation. The surface structure of
water hyacinth after recombinant α-L-arabinofuranosidase treatment was analyzed by scanning
electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), using untreated water hyacinth as control.
This research showed that enzymatic hydrolysis damaged the surface structure of water hyacinth and
changed its crystallinity. Similar result also indicated that, the α-L-arabinofuranosidase could also
damaged the surface structure of rice straw at the optimum ratio of enzyme mixture was 1:1, also
after 8 h incubation. The enzyme used in this research can be applied further for bio-bleaching of
paper pulp and animal feed stock, while the sugar product can be applied for bioethanol production.