Energycane is a hybrid of commercial and wild sugarcanes primarily bred for high fiber content. The polysaccharides (hemicellulose and cellulose) present in the fiber are not readily available for bioconversion into fuels and chemicals. Pretreatment points at breaking the lignin-carbohydrate structure to make cellulose and hemicellulose available for enzymatic hydrolysis. Liquid ammonia pretreatment can effectively remove lignin while cellulose remains favorably intact. Nonetheless, enzymatic hydrolysis plays a key role in the conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose into their monomeric sugars. Accessory enzymes along with surfactants are believed to positively contribute to the effectiveness of hydrolysis and overall processing costs. In this study, temperature, holding time, and ammonia to biomass ratio were optimized using Response Surface Methodology. Furthermore, the effect of cellulase (Cellic® Ctec2 3-30% g/g glucan), xylanase (Cellic® Htec2 0-15% g/g glucan), laccase (0-15% g/g dry biomass), and surfactant loading (Tween 80 0-15% g/g dry biomass) on glucose yield was assessed using Response Surface Methodology.
