SYSTEM VISCOSITY CHANGE DURING HIGH SOLIDS CONTENT SACCHARIFICATION OF SUGARCANE BAGASSE USING FIVE DIFFERENT ENZYMATIC COCKTAILS

The exploitation in biorefineries of lignocelulosic residues using enzymatic hydrolysis demands high scale and productivity to be economically feasible. However, in these conditions, the reaction medium is extremely compacted, and presents high yield stress due the almost lack of free water. Consequently, the initial stage of hydrolysis with high solids content is particularly adverse for enzymatic reactions. Therefore, understanding high solids enzymatic hydrolysis system rheology is necessary for the design of suitable reactors and enzymatic cocktails. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the viscosity of reaction media containing sugarcane bagasse (SCB) during high solids enzymatic hydrolysis using different enzymatic cocktails. The hydrothermally pretreated SCB evaluated was provided by Inbicon® and three different enzymatic mixtures were used. Hydrolysis assays were conducted with 30% solids (dry mass) at 50 °C and 200 rpm for 24 hours. According with the findings, different enzymatic cocktails are important variables influencing the flow pattern of high content SCB hydrolysis media. Additionally, we have shown that the enzymatic pool secreted by A. awamori was capable of boost high solids content enzymatic hydrolysis of hydrothermally pretreated SCB probably due to the activities of high efficient endoglucanases. This hypothesis will be tested in future studies.