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Old 17-10-2005, 10:12 AM
 
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Default Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose- How do you do it with off the shelf stuff ?

Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose- How do you do it with off the
shelf stuff ?

Appologies if this is the wrong forumn but hopefully someone can steer
me in the right direction.

I have been looking into ways of converting cellulose into Ethanol to
run the car as fuel prices are becoming annoying. The problem is I
don't know a anything about biochemistry. Having said this I have read
as much as I can and would like to give this "Enzymatic hydrolysis of
cellulose" a go.

From what I understand the following is the case :


Cellulose is a long chain of laminar pollysaccarides. Specifically
Glucose.
Because of the tightly packed nature and composition of cellulose you
need several enzymes to b reak it down ;

1. An endoglucanase - random chomps at the chain producing new ends
2. An exoglucanase - a progressive chomp
3. A ß-glucosidase - a break down of the broken bits further to
D-Glucose

Now not being a biochemist I am kind of hoping someone out there knows
what all this means and has a shopping list of stuff that will equate.

Anyone out there know where to get all this stuff or how to do this at
the laymans level ?

Any advice greatly appreciated ...


Steve