Continuous flow production of xylooligosaccharides by enzymatic hydrolysis

Xylooligosaccharides (XOS) are naturally occurring high value biochemicals with potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries. They are typically produced and purified from a variety of biomass resources in expensive and inefficient multi-step batch processes, and this high cost of production is a significant barrier to their commercial adoption. A flow-type microreactor was used to intensify and increase the efficiency of enzymatic XOS production from beechwood xylan. The xylan hydrolysis performance was compared with the same reaction performed under typical batch conditions. Over 80 g XOS per 100 g xylan was obtained in less than one minute of residence time at the optimum conditions tested in continuous flow experiments. The enzymatic xylan hydrolysis performance was improved and xylan to XOS conversion was three times higher under optimised flow conditions compared to a conventional batch process.