Influence of Pretreatment with Ionic Liquids on Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulose

Cellulose is the most renewable resource in the world. It is a linear polymer with consists of repeated units of monomer glucose with β-1,4-glycosidic bond. This highly crystallined structure of cellulose makes the reaction slow in cellulase-catalyzed hydrolysis reaction in aqueous media because of the inaccessibility of enzyme and water to their adsorption sites on cellulose.Therefore, the pretreatment of cellulose in order to increase the surface area which provides easy access of water and cellulase, is required1-3. This results in improvements in hydrolysis kinetics and conversion of cellulose to glucose. Rate of hydrolysis in cellulose-dissolving Ionic Liquid, such as 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim][Cl]) was improved byapproximately 50-fold higher for regenerated cellulose than the rate of untreated cellulose(Avicel PH-101)4.In this study, influence of treatment with [Bmim][Cl] that do not dissolvecellulose on initial rate of enzymatic hydrolysis was compared with that of IonicLiquids those dissolve cellulose.