Biorefining of waste paper biomass: increasing the concentration of glucose by optimising enzymatic hydrolysis

Waste copier paper is a potential substrate for the production of glucose relevant for manufacture of platform chemicals and intermediates, being composed of 51 % glucan. The yield and concentration of glucose arising from the enzymatic saccharification of solid ink-free copier paper as cellulosic substrate was studied using a range of commercial cellulase preparations. The results show that in all cellulase preparations examined, maximum hydrolysis was only achieved with the addition of beta-glucosidase, despite its presence in the enzyme mixtures. With the use of AccelleraseA (R) (cellulase), high substrate loading decreased conversion yield. However, this was overcome if the enzyme was added between 12.5 and 20 FPU g substrate(-1). Furthermore, this reaction condition facilitated continual stirring and enabled sequential additions (up to 50 % w/v) of paper to be made to the hydrolysis reaction, degrading nearly all (99 %) of the cellulose fibres and increasing the final concentration of glucose whilst simultaneously making high substrate concentrations achievable. Under optimal conditions (50 A degrees C, pH 5.0, 72 h), digestions facilitate the production of glucose to much improved concentrations of up to 1.33 mol l(-1)