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Investigating the role of mechanics in lignocellulosic biomass degradation during hydrolysis
Author(s) -
Digaitis Ramūnas,
Thybring Emil Engelund,
Thygesen Lisbeth Garbrecht
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
biotechnology progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.572
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6033
pISSN - 8756-7938
DOI - 10.1002/btpr.2754
Subject(s) - enzymatic hydrolysis , lignocellulosic biomass , chemistry , hydrolysis , biomass (ecology) , degradation (telecommunications) , chemical engineering , pulp and paper industry , fiber , particle size , particle (ecology) , organic chemistry , agronomy , telecommunications , computer science , biology , engineering , oceanography , geology
Enzymes and mechanics play major roles in lignocellulosic biomass deconstruction in biorefineries by catalyzing chemical cleavage or inducing physical breakdown of biomass, respectively. At industrially relevant substrate concentrations mechanical agitation is also a driving force for mass transfer as well as agglomeration of elongated biomass particles. Contrary to the physically induced particle attrition, which typically facilitates feedstock handling, particle agglomeration tends to hinder mass transfer and in the worst case induces processing difficulties like pipe blockage. Understanding the complex interplay between mechanical agitation and enzymatic degradation during hydrolysis is therefore critical and was the aim of this study. Particle size analyses revealed that neither mechanical agitation alone nor enzymatic treatment without mechanical agitation had any noteworthy effect on flax fiber attrition. Similarly, successive treatment, where mechanical agitation was either preceded or proceeded by enzymatic hydrolysis, did not induce any substantial segmentation of flax fibers. Simultaneous enzymatic and mechanical treatment on the other hand was found to promote fast fiber shortening. Higher hydrolysis yields, however, were obtained from nonagitated samples after prolonged enzymatic treatment, indicating that mechanical agitation in the long run reduces activity of the cellulolytic enzymes. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog ., 35: e2754, 2019.