Effect of compression milling on cellulose structure and on enzymatic hydrolysis kinetics

The changes in the cellulose structure by compression milling were studied and expressed in terms of crystallinity, accessibility, specific surface area, and degree of polymerization. The kinetic parameters, maximum reaction rate, and Michaelis constant were determined experimentally. Based on the experimental results a two-phase model, which is based on the degradation of cellulose by simultaneous actions of the cellulase complex on the crystalline and amorphous phases, is proposed. The relationships between cellulose accessibility and the kinetic parameters were compared with those predicted by the model. A good agreement was found, although the two-phase hypothesis is a simplification of the true state of order in cellulose.