Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulose

Abstract

There is a global trend to replace fossil fuels and products derived from them with renewable energy sources to minimize the impacts they generate on the environment through the integral use of industrial wood waste due to its low cost and high availability. Carbohydrates from lignocellulosic biomass are renewable and low-cost carbon sources to obtain biofuels, building blocks, and products highly demanded by society and markets. Cellulose and hemicelluloses could be converted into some products already produced commercially and novel products that have not yet reached commercial scale. Cellulose is the most abundant organic component of lignocellulosic biomass and a virtually inexhaustible source of renewable bioenergy. The other main constituents -namely lignin and hemicelluloses- vary in proportion and chemistry according to the raw material, affecting the selection of the process and its severity. Pretreatment is the first step to obtaining carbohydrates suitable for saccharification. Significant research to understand and improve the hydrolysis of carbohydrates from lignocellulosic materials is currently being carried out to obtain cost-efficient sugar yields concerning carbohydrates from food sources. In hydrolysis, an enzymatic complex involving several enzymes acts over the substrate. Cellulose and hemicelluloses have gained considerable interest in the past decades because they can provide C6 and C5 sugars, raw materials for bio-alcohols, bioplastics, and other chemical products. This chapter involves the exhaustive study of the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose from the lignocellulosic biomass to obtain sugars to produce different types of alcohols, such as the enzyme complexes most used, and the options to reduce costs in this process.