SouthernRegionalResearchCenter,1100RobertE.LeeBlvd,NewOrleans,LA70124,USThe cost-competitive production of bio-ethanol and other biofuels is currently impeded, mostly bythe high cost and the low efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis of feedstock biomass and especiallyplant celluloses. Despite substantial reduction in the cost of production of cellulolytic enzymes inrecent times, the conversion of plant cellulose into sugars still remains an expensive and slow step.Our research has found that the introduction of a low energy, uniform ultrasound field into enzymeprocessing solutions greatly improved their effectiveness by significantly increasing their reactionrate. It has been established that the following specific features of combined enzyme/ultrasoundbio-processing are critically important: (a) cavitation effects caused by introduction of ultrasoundfield into the enzyme processing solution greatly enhance the transport of enzyme macromoleculestoward the substrate’s surface, (b) mechanical impacts, produced by the collapse of cavitation bub-bles, provide an important benefit of “opening up” the surface of solid substrates to the action ofenzymes, (c) the effect of cavitation is several hundred times greater in heterogeneous systems(solid substrate–liquid) than in homogeneous, and (d) in water, the maximum effects of cavitationoccur at ∼50 C, which is the optimum temperature for many enzymes. On a laboratory scale, intro-duction of low level, uniform ultrasonic energy in the reaction chamber during enzymatic hydrolysisof corn stover and sugar cane bagasse cellulose samples resulted in a significant improvement inenzyme efficiency. The combined enzyme/sonication hydrolysis of corn stover, bagasse and similarplant celluloses could significantly accelerate this critical step in the overall conversion of agriculturalwaste biomass into biofuels.
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Yachmenev et al. (2009) studied this question.