The correlation between the enzymatic saccharification and the multidimensional structure of cellulose changed by different pretreatments

Abstract

Ionic liquid pretreatment significantly altered the ultrastructure and morphology of cellulose samples, making cellulose much easier for enzymes to digest due to its significantly high amorphous content. However, when the impact of amorphous content was not considered, the allomorph easiest for enzymes to digest was cellulose III, followed by cellulose II, cellulose Iα, and cellulose Iβ. When the cellulose crystallinity index was similar, the allomorph type was the dominant factor. The amorphous content had a strong positive influence on cellulose digestibility. Water contact angle was also an important factor in evaluating the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of cellulose except for cellulose III. A high wettability of cellulose enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis when the crystal allomorph of all the cellulosic samples was the same.