Mechanism of Depolymerization of Cellulose in Low Sulfuric Acid Medium. Kinetic Investigation and Stochastic Simulation

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 1994 in the subject Engineering - Chemical Engineering, grade: 3.7, Université Laval, language: English, abstract: The final objective of this investigation is to model the kinetic behaviour of cellulose during hydrolysis by means of stochastic simulation.

Part I of this study will thus report the experimental determination of kinetic parameters to be used in the simulation. These were established from kinetic experiments on cellobiose hydrolysis and glucose degradation. Furthermore, both cotton morphology and outer layer are analysed and the effects of cotton wax on cellulose depolymerization are studied. Finally, the effects of cotton milling on both cellulose depolymerization and glucose yield are investigated and presented in this first part.

Part II will deal more specifically with the stochastic modelling of these data. This simulation should be realistic enough to allow a representation of the effect of milling on the cellulose structure and its influence on acid hydrolysis kinetics.