Screening and evaluation of phenols and furans degrading fungi for the biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass

Physicochemical pretreatments used to improve the bioconversion of recalcitrant lignocellulosic biomass generate toxic by-products, such as furan and phenols. In this study, 40 fungal strains were analyzed for their capability to grow with different concentrations of furfural, vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, and syringaldehyde. Byssochlamys nivea MUT 6321 showed promising growth performance when the inhibitors were used as single molecules and it was the only fungus that could grow when the four molecules were simultaneously present in the culture media. Further trials demonstrated that B. nivea was able to completely degrade furfural in 24 h and the phenolic aldehydes, as single molecules, in less than 11 days. In the presence of the three phenolic aldehydes, the fungus was able to transform them. However, when furfural was present in the mix, faster and preferential consumption of furfural instead of phenolic aldehydes was observed. This study provides important information for the use of this fungus to remove toxic compounds present in pretreated lignocellulosic biomass that could potentially lead to the enhancement of the efficiency of biofuels and chemicals production.