Kinetic Modeling of Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Poplar Waste by Wet Oxidation Pretreatment

Kinetic modeling of enzymolysis of pulp fiber waste pretreated by a wet oxidation process was studied. First, a wet oxidation pretreatment of fiber waste was carried out. It was found that hemicellulose were removed efficiently, yielding material with a pentosan content of 4% (based on the o.d. biomass). A statistical kinetic model was developed based on the experimental results of the enzymatic hydrolysis of wet oxidation pretreated material. The model can be described as follows: RSY (reducing sugar yield)=12.48×C×(1-e) ×100%, an equation that can be used to predict the reducing sugar yield in an enzymolysis process. The RSY by enzymatic loading of 35FPU/g achieved almost the highest yield after 48 h, and there was no significant improvement with further extension of the enzymolysis time. The modeling was validated within the enzymatic loading range of 15 to 35FPU/g and provided a satisfactory interpretation of the experimental data.