Cellulose accessibility determines the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis of steam-pretreated spruce.
Spruce chips steam-pretreated at various conditions, according to a central composite design, were used for investigating the influence of pretreatment conditions on enzymatic hydrolysis, accounting for the individual effects of pretreatment temperature (194-220°C), time (3-11min) and sulfur dioxide uptake (0.7-2.5%). The materials were analyzed for several surface characteristics, including IR ab