title: Specific effects of fiber size and fiber swelling on biomass substrate surface area and enzymatic digestibility.
abstract: To clarify the specific effect of biomass substrate surface area on its enzymatic digestibility, factors of fiber size reduction and swelling changes were investigated by using poplar substrates with controlled morphological and chemical properties after modified chemical pulping. Results showed that fiber size changes had insignificant influence on enzymatic hydrolysis, although the external surface area increased up to 41% with the reduction of fiber size. Swelling changes caused by increased biomass fiber porosities after PFI refining showed a significant influence on the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis. It is also found that chemical properties such as xylan and lignin content can influence the swelling effect. Xylan is confirmed to facilitate substrate hydrolysability by swelling, while lignin restricts swelling effect and thus minimizes the enzyme accessibility to substrates.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Bioproducts, Science and Engineering Laboratory, Washington State University, Richland, WA 99354, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: Courtnee
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grego
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D018533:Biomass; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry; D002480:Cellulase / Q000378:metabolism*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005591:Chemical Fractionation; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007700:Kinetics; D032107:Populus / Q000737:chemistry*; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013499:Surface Properties; D001617:beta-Glucosidase
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D002482:Cellulose; D001617:beta-Glucosidase; D002480:Cellulase
keywords: Biomass recalcitrance; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Fiber size; Surface area; Swelling