Determining Yields in High Solids Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Biomass

As technologies for utilizing biomass for fuel and chemical production continue to improve, enzymatic hydrolysis can be run at still higher solids concentrations. For hydrolyses that initially contain little or no free water (10-40% total solids, w/w), the saccharification of insoluble polymers into...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied biochemistry and biotechnology 2009-05, Vol.156 (1-3), p.127-132
Main Authors: Kristensen, Jan B, Felby, Claus, Jørgensen, Henning
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochemistry
Biological and medical sciences
Biomass
Biomass energy
Biotechnology
Biotechnology - methods
Carbohydrates - analysis
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Energy-Generating Resources
enzymatic hydrolysis
Enzymes
Enzymes - chemistry
ethanol production
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hydrolysis
methodology
Polymers
saccharification
Slurries
Solids
Specific gravity
Studies
Sugar
sugars
yields
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Summary:As technologies for utilizing biomass for fuel and chemical production continue to improve, enzymatic hydrolysis can be run at still higher solids concentrations. For hydrolyses that initially contain little or no free water (10-40% total solids, w/w), the saccharification of insoluble polymers into soluble sugars involves changes of volume, density, and proportion of insoluble solids. This poses a new challenge when determining the degree of hydrolysis (conversion yield). Experiments have shown that calculating the yield from the resulting sugar concentration in the supernatant of the slurry and using the assumed initial volume leads to significant overestimations of the yield. By measuring the proportion of insoluble solids in the slurry as well as the sugar concentration and specific gravity of the aqueous phase, it is possible to precisely calculate the degree of conversion. The discrepancies between the different ways of calculating yields are demonstrated along with a nonlaborious method for approximating yields in high solids hydrolysis.
ISSN:0273-2289
1559-0291
DOI:10.1007/s12010-008-8375-0