On the conflicting findings of Role of Cellulose-Crystallinity in Enzyme Hydrolysis of Biomass

Abstract

In the field of conversion of biomass to ethanol, an important area of research is the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. Once cellulose is converted to glucose, it can be easily fermented to ethanol. As the cellulosic ethanol technology stands now, costly pretreatments and high dosages of cellulases are needed to achieve complete hydrolysis of the cellulose fraction of the biomass.1-3 This is mostly due to the inability of the enzymes to fully access the cellulose fraction given the complex plant cell wall structure. Many different technologies are being developed to modify the biomass to make cellulose more accessible for enzymatic saccharification.

Citation

Agarwal, Umesh; Ralph, Sally. 2014. On the conflicting findings of Role of Cellulose-Crystallinity in Enzyme Hydrolysis of Biomass. Prepr. Pap.-Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Energy Fuels. 59(1): 712-715.