ANALYSIS OF KINETIC DATA IN THE ENZYMATIC-HYDROLYSIS OF DELIGNIFIED WOOD

Pinus pinaster wood samples were delignified in HCl-catalyzed, acetic acid media and treated with dilute NaClO solutions to obtain a cellulo sic residue highly susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis. A set of hydro lysis experiments was carried out during 48 hours using various enzyme /substrate and liquor/solid ratios. The experimental results were fitt ed to empirical models, and the equations obtained were used to estima te the conversions achieved at selected reaction times (9 and 48 hours ). In order to obtain a generalized interpretation of data, these calc ulated conversions were correlated with the operational conditions use d for pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. This information was used to develop a calculation procedure providing a close reproduction of the experimental data.