Substrate solid particle size and reaction kinetics
The presence of a solid–liquid (cellulose–water) interface is a prerequisite for cellulase binding and catalysis. The hydrolytic reaction depends directly on the available interfacial surface area, which depends on the substrate solids particle size.
Fig. 1 presents the analysis of the dependence of cellulose hydrolysis on particle size of the cellulose substrate. As the fibrous cellulose particles had a shape closer to a cylinder than a sphere, the surface area of the particles was calculated assuming the cellulose particles were of a cylindrical form with equal end diameter (d0) and length (L). Fig. 1 shows that the model prediction of the dependence of volumetric reducing sugar production (VRSProd) on substrate particle size slightly overestimated the effect of substrate particle size, especially for reaction extended over 10 h. The experimental data for the initial reaction period (