Methods and arrangements for controlling enzymatic hydrolysis by ftir spectrometry

An arrangement for controlling enzymatic hydrolysis in a manufacturing process of chemical bioproducts, the arrangement comprising:

• at least one reactor for subjecting a process stream of said manufacturing process to enzymatic hydrolysis,
• additional processing equipment upstream and downstream of said reactor in the process,
• at least one Fourier Transform Infrared, later FTIR, measurement station configured to measure the content of one or more carbohydrates in a process fluid contained in said reactor or in any of said additional processing equipment, and
• a process controller coupled to receive measurement results from said at least one FTIR measurement station,
• wherein said process controller is configured to control the value of at least one process parameter of the manufacturing process at least partly on the basis of the received measurement results in order to affect at least one of:
• the conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose into monomeric carbohydrates in said enzymatic hydrolysis, the relative content of soluble lignin in relation to monomeric carbohydrates in said enzymatic hydrolysis.