IMPACT DE LA STEAM EXPLOSION ET DE L’HOMOGENEISATION SUR LES PROPRIETES PHYSICOCHIMIQUES ET L’HYDROLYSE ENZYMATIQUE DE LA CELLULOSE

In the economic and energetic context of our society, it is universally recognized that an alternative to fossil fuels and oil based product will be needed in the nearest future. A potential solution is to develop second generation biofuel and biobased product that utilizes non-food plant materials. The major component of these materials is lignocellulose, which is a complex composed by widely available biological polymers such as cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. This thesis is a part of this approach and is focused on a well-define part of these materials: the cellulose. The first part of this work was focused on the impact of two pretraitements (steam explosion and homogenization) on physico-chemical properties and hydrolysis yield of pure cellulose fiber. In contrast with literature, results obtained showed that moderate steam explosion treatments did not appear to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis yield of the cellulose fibers. In Parralel, a model that predicts the effect of the intensity of the steam explosion treatment in correlation with temperature and time was assessed. Links between this model and the evolution physico-chemical properties of the cellulose during pretreatment and cellulose hydrolysis yield were established In a second way, a theoretical diagram predicting the degradation of the cellulose during the steam explosion treatment was established. Regarding the homogenization, it was shown that homogenization increase significatively the cellulose hydrolysis (from 25 to 100%). Results highlights potential of this technology to be used as a pretreatment Finally, enzymatic hydrolysis step has been studied in order to improve cellulose hydrolysis and to obtain high concentrated hydrolysate. In this way, two methods based on successive addition of enzyme and substrate were assesse