Hydrolysis
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Since bacteria are unable to take up particulate organic matter, the first step in anaerobic degradation consists of the Hydrolysis of polymers through the action of exo-enzymes to produce smaller molecules which can cross the cell barrier. During the enzymatic Hydrolysis process, proteins are hydrolyzed to amino acids, polysaccharide to simple sugars and lipids to long chain fatty acids (LCFA). Hydrolysis is in most cases, notably with sewage as substrate, rate-limiting for the overall process of anaerobic degradation of organic matter and is very sensitive to temperature. For that reason, design of the anaerobic reactors for sewage treatment is usually based on the Hydrolysis step.
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