Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Spent Coffee Ground

Spent coffee ground (SCG) is the main residue generated during the production of instant coffee by thermal water extraction from roasted coffee beans. This waste is composed mainly of polysaccharides such as cellulose and galactomannans that are not solubilised during the extraction process, thus remaining as unextractable, insoluble solids. In this context, the application of an enzyme cocktail (mannanase, endoglucanase, exoglucanase, xylanase and pectinase) with more than one component that acts synergistically with each other is regarded as a promising strategy to solubilise/hydrolyse remaining solids, either to increase the soluble solids yield of instant coffee or for use as raw material in the production of bioethanol and food additives (mannitol). Wild fungi were isolated from both SCG and coffee beans and screened for enzyme production. The enzymes produced from the selected wild fungi and recombinant fungi were then evaluated for enzymatic hydrolysis of SCG, in comparison to commercial enzyme preparations. Out of the enzymes evaluated on SCG, the application of mannanase enzymes gave better yields than when only cellulase or xylanase was utilised for hydrolysis. The recombinant mannanase (Man1) provided the highest increments in soluble solids yield (17 %), even when compared with commercial preparations at the same protein concentration (0.5 mg/g SCG). The combination of Man1 with other enzyme activities revealed an additive effect on the hydrolysis yield, but not synergistic interaction, suggesting that the highest soluble solid yields was mainly due to the hydrolysis action of mannanase.