Effects of structural features of cotton cellulose on enzymatic hydrolysis

Textile cotton wastes were treated with ..gamma.. rays and 18% NaOH and 70% ZnCl/sub 2/ solutions and were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis. The untreated and treated samples were characterized both before and after hydrolysis by means of parameters concerning molecular structure (degree of polymerization), supermolecular structure (x-ray diffraction), accessibility, and reactivity (moisture regain, enzyme adsorption, and solubility in FeTNa). These parameters were correlated to kinetic parameters of the hydrolysis reaction. The V/sub max/ and K/sub m/ values were evaluated from Lineweaver-Burk plots at different temperatures. The V/sub max//K/sub m/ ratio, analogous to the specificity constant, proved to be less sensitive to experimental errors and more suitable for a comparison of the kinetic behavior of the samples. The modifications of both supermolecular structure and morphology of cellulose were of primary importance to attain high yields and rates of hydrolysis. Furthermore, the structural and morphologic parameters chosen to characterize the samples can be correlated to the kinetic parameters of enzymatic hydrolysis, in particular to K/sub m/ values.