Enzymatic hydrolysis of several pretreated lignocellulosic biomasses: Fractal kinetic modelling

Enzymatic hydrolysis of three pre-treated lignocellulosic biomasses -LCB- (wheat straw-WS-, corn stover-CSV- and cardoon stems -CS-) is studied. These biomasses were pre-treated by two methods: diluted sulfuric acid and acid ethanol-water extraction at six severity levels (H values). Pretreated solid fractions were hydrolyzed with commercial enzyme cocktails at standard conditions. A first-order kinetic fractal model was fitted to the experimental results. This model accurately describes the hydrolysis of all biomasses at all pre-treatment conditions studied. The results show that the formal first-order kinetic constant k depends on the biomass nature. The hydrolysis rate increases as the pre-treatment severity does, while the fractal exponent value h decreases. With these pre-treatments, and in terms of k and h, WS is highly reactive and, at medium H with EW pretreatment, highly accessible; CSV has a low reactivity and high accessibility and CS has the lowest reactivity and an increasing accessibility as severity rises.