Corncobs were subjected to nonisothermal reaction in aqueous conditions to reach temperatures in the range202-216
C. The liquors were assa
yed for composition to assess the conversion of x
ylan into oligosaccharidesand reaction b
yproducts, whereas the spent solids from treatments were subjected to enz
ymatic h
ydrol
ysis.Enz
ymatic assa
ys were carried out according to an incomplete, factorial, centered design of experiments, inwhich the following independent variables were considered: liquor to solid ratio (in the range 6-16 g/g),enz
yme to substrate ratio (in the range 6-28 filter paper units/g), and
-glucosidase activit
y/cellulase activit
yratio (in the range 1-9 IU/FPU). The concentration/time data were fitted to an equation selected from theliterature, and the model parameters were expressed as a function of the operational variables considered inthe experimental design. Under selected conditions, high oligosaccharide
yields and near quantitative celluloseconversion into glucose were obtained.