Use of Carbohydrate Binding Modules To Elucidate the Relationship between Fibrillation, Hydrolyzability, and Accessibility of Cellulosic Substrates

It is widely acknowledged that the rate limiting step in the enzyme-mediated deconstruction of the biomass process is the restricted ability of the enzymes to access the cellulosic substrate. An ongoing challenge has been to find reproducible and quantifiable methods for measuring enzyme accessibility to cellulose. Type A (crystalline cellulose) and type B (paracrystalline) cellulose binding modules (CBMs) were used in parallel with microscopy, fiber analysis (aspect ratio), and water retention values (WRV) to determine if the observed and anticipated changes in differentially prepared microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) substrates were similar. It was apparent that with increasing refining there was a corresponding increase in fibrillation (SEM and WRV), as well as a decrease in aspect ratio. Although the initial degree and rate of enzymatic hydrolysis increased with prolonged refining, above 1000 kWh ton–1 little improvement in either was observed. However, when cellulose accessibility was assessed by the ...