Introduction to Session 2: Enzyme Catalysis and Engineering

Abstract

The role of enzymes in biomass-to-fuels is rapidly expanding from a narrow focus on the hydrolysis of cellulose remaining after pretreatment to a more comprehensive approach, where increasing attention is focused on noncellulase activities, including hemicellulases, lignin-modifying, and accessory enzymes. This transition is being driven from several directions. Foremost is the realization that pretreatment may be best viewed as an activation or preconditioning step in the hydrolysis of biomass. Pretreatment conditions severe enough to produce highly accessible biomass for subsequent enzymatic conversion may be saddled with the significant problems of high cost, yield losses, and inhibitor formation. Mild severities may significantly reduce these problems; however, lower severity pretreatment results in higher recalcitrance, and often higher chemical complexity compared to more severely pretreated biomass.