Sunday, May 3, 2009
3-88
Xylan Hydrolysis Kinetics
H.M. Pilath, M.R. Nimlos, D.K. Johnson, and M.E. Himmel. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401
Experiments and calculations suggest that the intrinsic kinetics of xylan hydrolysis is much faster than xylose degradation. This suggests that high yields (>90%) of xylose during pretreatment are theoretically feasible, but that mass transport limits the hydrolysis of xylan in particles of biomass. To more fully understand mass transport in biomass pretreatment, experiments were conducted to measure the intrinsic kinetics of hydrolysis of xylan and xylooligomers (xylobiose), and to measure the hydrolysis of xylan in realistic samples of corn stover. The results from these experiments are used to develop and test kinetic models that contain empirical equations describing mass transport. These models will be useful for analyzing and optimizing large-scale biomass pretreatment reactors.