Characterization of pulp with high enzymatic hydrolyzability

Conference poster, 2014

Conversion of biomass to biofuels is currently an area that attracts large interest, and lignocellulosic biomass offers the abundance and environmental attributes that can potentially support large-scale biofuel production as an alternative to petroleum-based transportation fuel. In a recent project, Innventia has developed wood based pulps optimized for conversion to biofuels. These novel pulps were produced to target a high level of enzymatic hydrolyzability. To assess the hydrolyzability of these pulps, a laboratory protocol has been established using an enzyme mixture containing Celluclast 1.5L and Novozyme 188 with an activity of 10 FPU/g pulp (Andersen 2007). Results obtained using this protocol are assumed to be relevant for industrial conditions. In addition to assessment of the produced pulps, the results have been compared to commercial cellulose substrates and pulps of a variety of grades. Furthermore, supramolecular properties – specific surface area and average pore size – were determined by an in-house method utilizing solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (Larsson et al. 2013). Kappa numbers, limiting viscosities, ISO-brightness and carbohydrate compositions were determined using standard methods. Molecular mass distributions of cellulose tricarbanilates were determined by size exclusion chromatography with tetrahydro furan mobile phase (Drechsler et al. 2000). The presentation will discuss the influence of chemical, macromolecular and supramolecular properties of commercial and novel pulp grades on the enzymatic hydrolyzability. The protocol used to assess of enzymatic hydrolyzability will be proposed as a benchmark test.