Abstract: Xylanase produced by Streptomyces olivaceovirdis E-86 was used to hydrolyze steam-exploded corncob extractto produce xylooligosaccharides. Through this experiment, the hydrolysis nature of steam-exploded corncob extract wascharacterized and the composition of its end-products was compared to those of enzymatic hydrolyzed corncob xylan. Thefollowing results were obtained: Satisfactory hydrolysis was achieved at 120U/100ml of enzyme addition and 8h of reactiontime. The amount of reducing sugar in the hydrolysate was 46μmol/ml with average degree of polymerization of 3.1 and hydrolysisrate of 46%. The end-product composition of steam-exploded corncob extract and corncob xylan were almost the same, whichmade up of mainly xylobiose and small amounts of xylotriose and xylose. A trace amount of rhamnose and arabinose were alsofound in the hydrolysate of steam-exploded corncob extract. Thus, the steam-exploded corncob extract was appropriate toreplace corncob xylan as the substrate for xylooligosaccharides production.

Key words: steam-exploded corncob, xylooligosaccharides production, xylanase, Streptomyces olivaceovirdis E-86