Use of Sugarcane Bagasse with Different Particle Sizes to Determine the Relationship between Physical Properties and Enzymatic Hydrolysis

The supramolecular structures of a substrate, such as crystallinity, specific surface area, average pore size, and cellulase adsorption capacity, etc., affect the enzymatic hydrolysis of a lignocellulosic biomass. It is unclear which of these factors is most important for efficient hydrolysis. To eliminate the influence of the hemicellulose content and the lignin, sugarcane bagasse samples with the same cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin content but with different particle sizes were used as substrates to investigate the relationship between physical properties and enzymatic conversion efficiency. When the content of hemicellulose and lignin was not significantly different, the decrease in the crystallinity index (CrI) and the increase in the specific surface area (SSA), cellulase adsorption, average pore size, and the cellulase adsorption per SSA could give rise to higher enzymatic convertibility. The effects of the CrI and the average pore size were more pronounced than the effects of the SSA, the cellulase adsorption capacity, and the cellulase adsorption per SSA. According to the developed formula, the CrI was more influential than the average pore size under the specific conditions.