Study of kinetic parameters in a mechanistic model for enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse subjected to different pretreatments

The goal of this work is to evaluate the influence of different pretreatments in the kinetics of enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse and to propose a reliable methodology to easily perform sensitivity analysis and updating kinetic parameters whenever necessary. A kinetic model was modified to represent the experimental data of the batch enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse pretreated with alkaline hydrogen peroxide. The simultaneous estimation of kinetic parameters of the mathematical model was performed using the Pikaia genetic algorithm using batch hydrolysis experimental data obtained with different enzymatic loads. Subsequently, Plackett–Burman designs were used to identify the kinetic parameters with the higher influence on the dynamic behavior of the process variables, which were re-estimated to describe experimental data of the hydrolysis of bagasse pretreated with phosphoric acid + sodium hydroxide. The methodology was accurate and straightforward and can be used whenever there are changes in pretreatment conditions and/or fluctuations in biomass composition in different harvests.