Swelling Degree of Cellulose Materials and Hydrolysis Rate with Cellulase

Abstract

We investigated some relationships between the hydrolysis rate with cellulase and the swelling degree of the cellulose fibers of different samples. The water retention value (WRV) determined by the centrifugal method was used as a measure of the swelling degree. A linear relationship was observed between the hydrolysis rate and the WRV of the untreated pulps of different chemical composition and crystallinity. A similar linearity was observed also for pulps treated mechanically or chemically, but the slope of the regression line differed with the treating methods, and it decreased in proportion with the degree of degradation of the fiber structure.