Rational Design of New Bio-based Carriers for Advanced Enzyme Immobilization

Cellulose and xylan have considerable untapped potential for valorization in the current economy. From cellulose, it is possible to design highly functionalized spherical beads with applications as enzyme immobilization and drug release. On the other hand, xylan is of great interest in the preparation of prebiotic compounds. These prebiotics exhibit great benefits to human health. In this PhD work, a more sustainable and circular bead fabrication process was introduced. Second, it was studied how the presence of anionic charges is changing the interactions of cellulose-based hydrogels beads with water. Last, the impact of different cellulose bead treatments on immobilized endo-1,4-β-xylanase was examined. Immobilized xylanase can be exploited to prepare xylooligosaccharides, prebiotic compounds derived from xylan.