Valorization of Wheat Bran by Co-Cultivation of Fungi with Integrated Hydrolysis to Provide Sugars and Animal Feed

The enzymatic hydrolysis of agricultural residues like wheat bran enables the valorization of otherwise unused carbon sources for biotechnological processes. The co-culture of Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei with wheat bran particles as substrate produces an enzyme set consisting of xylanases, amylases, and cellulases that is suitable to degrade lignocellulosic biomass to sugar monomers (D-glucose, D-xylose, and L-arabinose). An integrated one-pot process for enzyme production followed by hydrolysis in stirred tank bioreactors resulted in hydrolysates with overall sugar concentrations of 32.3 g L−1 and 24.4 g L−1 at a 25 L and a 1000 L scale, respectively, within 86 h. Furthermore, the residual solid biomass consisting of fermented wheat bran with protein-rich fungal mycelium displays improved nutritional properties for usage as animal feed due to its increased content of sugars, protein, and fat.