A novel and integrative process: From enzymatic fractionation of wheat bran with a hemicellulasic cocktail to the recovery of ferulic acid by weak anion exchange resin

An integrated and eco-friendly process including enzymatic hydrolysis with a hemicellulasic cocktail and a chromatographic purification step was developed to obtain ferulic acid from wheat bran. Thermobacillus xylanilyticus, a thermophilic and hemicellulolytic bacterium, was able to produce enzymatic cocktails containing xylanase, xylosidase, arabinosidase and esterase activities. The cocktails produced were used to deconstruct destarched wheat bran, allowing the release of 6%, 20% and 37% (w/w) of monomeric arabinose, xylose and ferulic acid, respectively. A weak anionic resin under free-base form was proved successful to separate the carbohydrate fraction from the ferulate one after acidification. Ferulate was recovered at high concentration (15 g/L) during regeneration of the resin. This non-optimized purification step allowed recovering 67% of ferulic acid fixed on the resin. Global recovery of ferulic acid contained in wheat bran after both enzymatic fractionation and purification stages reached 21.8%