Biocatalytic Conversion of Semi-Finished Hardwood into Sugars: Enzymatic Hydrolysis at High Concentrations of the Substrate

Exhaustive enzymatic hydrolysis is performed for semi-bleached sulfate hardwood cellulose (a semi-finished pulp and paper product) at ultra-high concentrations of it in a reaction mixture (up to 300 g/L per dry compound). Russian commercial enzyme preparations are used for hydrolysis. The best seems to be Agroxil Plus, which has high cellulase and endoxylanase activities. A total of 290 g/L of sugars (including 210 g/L of glucose and 30 g/L of xylose) is obtained using Agroxil Plus (20 mg protein/1 g substrate) in combination with an auxiliary β-glucosidase enzyme preparation (2 mg protein/1 g substrate) at an initial semi-bleached cellulose concentration of 300 g/L. The dosage of Agroxil Plus can be halved (10 mg of protein/1 g of substrate with a total concentration of semi-bleached cellulose of 300 g/L) with a high yield of hydrolysis product (270 g/L of sugars, including 200 g/L of glucose and 30 g/L of xylose), due to the fractional addition of a substrate.