Operational Strategies for Enzymatic Hydrolysis in a Biorefinery

Abstract

The [second generation (2G)] biorefinery is gaining wide attention for the production of biofuels such as bioethanol and coproducts such as xylooligosaccharides using lignocellulosic materials as feedstock. However, enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated lignocellulosic materials to produce fermentable sugars is a complex-step bioethanol production process. In addition, a bottleneck in lignocellulosic biomass conversion to bioethanol is the cost of these enzymes. Thus, one of the most important objectives and challenges in the production of 2G bioethanol is the development of cost-effective processes at large scale. This chapter gives an overview of enzymatic hydrolysis process, the effect of pretreatment on enzymatic hydrolysis, operational strategies, and reactor design and operation as well as the advances achieved in recent years.