Simple Equation for Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulose Using Cellulase Complex and β-Glucosidase Mixture

Abstract

We herein report the first study into the use of an enzyme mixture of cellulase and β-glucosidase for cellulose hydrolysis, with the overall aim of expressing the effect of β-glucosidase addition using a simple equation. To achieve this goal, different amounts of commercial cellulase and β-glucosidase were added to a cellulose slurry, and hydrolysis experiments were carried out at 40 °C and 50 °C over 0-48 h in a shaker incubator using a 0.1 mol/dm³ sodium acetate solution to maintain a solution pH of 5. The glucose yield got higher for the larger amount of cellulase and larger amount of β-glucosidase. The yield of glucose recovered at 50 °C was lower than that recovered at 40 °C. Finally, an equation to estimate glucose production using such a cellulase and β-glucosidase mixture was then developed for the first time, and this equation correlated well with the experimental data. The obtained equation expressed the hydrolysis using another bottle of cellulase, too.