María Lorena Castrillo

Obtención de azúcares fermentables a partir de aserrín de pino pretratado secuencialmente con ácido base

The use of lignocellulosic waste constitutes an abundant and inexpensive source; it also offers a solution to the problem of waste disposal. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of different conditions of a sequential acid-base pretreatment of pine sawdust, through the release of reducing sugars in the saccharification step. The lignocellulosic material was pretreated in two stages: acid pretreatment (PT1), using sulfuric acid and basic pretreatment (PT2), employing sodium hydroxide at three levels each one: 1, 2 and 3 % in a factorial design. Enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out at 50 oC and 150 rpm in 50 mL vials. Samples were taken at 0.15, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. The percentage of acid soluble lignin and the concentration of reducing sugars were determined. The optimum level of each factor favoring the highest delignification corresponded to 3 % sulfuric acid and 3 % sodium hydroxide. The production of reducing sugars was not affected by the PT2, but by the PT1, achieving a maximum for level 0 thereof (2 % of sulfuric acid). The sequential acid-base pretreatment was optimized and it was found that this pretreatment improves enzymatic hydrolysis of pine sawdust respect to unpretreated samples. The amount of reducing sugars obtained was comparable to that obtained by other authors.

Aislamiento de cepas de Aspergillus sección Nigri en la yerba mate comercializada en Posadas (Misiones, Argentina) y evaluación de su potencial ocratoxigénico

The objectives of the present work were to investigate the isolation frequency of genus Aspergillus in canchada yerba mate (YMCH) and elaborated yerba mate (YME) (Ilex paraguariensis) and the proportion of section Nigri isolates, as well as to determine ochratoxin A production by Aspergillus species section Nigri. Three hundred twenty eight Aspergillus strains from 20 samples of YMCH and 1306 Aspergillus strains from 36 samples of YME were isolated; of the total, 279 from the first group of strains and 1215 from the latter group, belonged to section Nigri. For the detection of ochratoxin A production, the strains were cultivated on Czapeck yeast extract agar and the toxin was detected by thin layer chromatography under UV light. Uniserate species predominance was observed in the 1494 strains of Aspergillus section Nigri obtained (Aspergillus japonicus var. japonicus and Aspergillus japonicus var. aculeatus), whereas none of the strains analysed showed ochratoxin A production in vitro at the detection level of the methodology employed.