Kinetic models for enzymic cellulose degradation in aqueous two‐phase systems

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Abstract
Cellulose materials can readily be degraded into cellobiose and glucose by hydrolysis of the enzymes cellulase and β‐glucosidase in aqueous media. Product inhibition does, however, retard the reaction rate and reduce productivity. This may be avoided by carrying out the degradation of cellulose in an aqueous two‐phase system, which permits the enzymes and the substrate to be partitioned to one phase and the products to be extracted into a second phase. In addition, two‐phase systems also allow recycling of the enzymes. Here, three models previously developed for “one‐phase” enzymic degradation are compared to data from enzymic degradation in an aqueous two‐phase system. The models tested agreed relatively well with batch experiments during a period of 200 h. For one of the models tested, continuous degradation also gave accurate agreement.