cellulose hydrolysis

[vodka]

how could cellulose and hemicellulose be enzymatically hydrolyzed in a cost effective manner.

[baikuza]

cellulose can be hydrolized by using cellulose.

they are assumed as starting matterial for related enzymes.
not a product.

that's how enzymes work.

more? try find article about enzymes; active site of enzyme; inhibitor ; etc.

[mkwaje]

maybe you mean "cellulase"? Breaking cellulose and hemicellulose bonds can be easy with the right enzyme. Breaking it apart in a cost effective manner entails a bit of work, of course. You should probably consider the cost of production of the cellulase enzyme. If you can isolate or genetically engineer an over-producer of the cellulase enzyme, that would be a start. Then you can optimize growth and production conditions.

[vodka]

You are on mark MKWAJE!

But, theoretically it may be easy to look for cellulase overproducer. The world has been trying jst the same since last 15 years, but not been very successful. My point is, if enzymatic hydrolysis is really the viable route. What about acid hydrolysis followed by fermentation.

Cheers!

[victor]

acid hydrolysis nearly doesn't work on cellulose because of it's fibril-like structure, so it'd be hard for the fermentation to be run also....
I think that's why enzymatic hydrolysis is really the viable route, because of its fast reaction rate and it doesn't need any over-excess heat and pressure...

[vodka]

Oh acid hydrolysis does surely work for cellulose and hemicellulose, whereas alkali is used for delignification. May be the use of acid tends to degrade sugars coming out of cellulose, hence the preference of enzyme?
also the growth of cellulase producers and the resultant release of enzyme to degrade the cellulose is probably more cost effective rather than applying stringent conditions of temperature and pressure during acid hydrolysis.

[mkwaje]

A friend of mine was working on this and in a natural environment, cellulose and lignin are bound together in plant matter. Thus making it difficult to degrade cellulose, so what is needed is a cocktail of enzymes that would degrade cellulose and other fiber components. Thus, if you can isolate an organism that over produces those enzymes together, then I think it would be more cost effective.

[baikuza]

haha... yes.
my mistake on type it.
haha... thanks for the correction mkwaje.