Liquefied biomass

1. Process for the production of a liquefied product, comprising the following steps:

(a) providing sugar beet and/or sugar cane biomass material;

(b) liquefying said biomass by subjecting it to the enzymatic action of an enzyme mixture comprising cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase, and polygalacturonase to a liquefied product;

wherein the enzyme mixture additionally contains arabinose,

wherein step (b) is carried out for less than 10 hours and

wherein the liquefied product in step (b) has a content of remaining insoluble solids of less than 2% (w/w).

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein a chemical or microorganism is added before or during step (b) to render the liquefied product storage stable.

3. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the chemical is selected from the group consisting of inorganic acid, inorganic anhydrides or wherein the microorganism is one or more selected from Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Bacillus, Saccharomyces , and Clostridium.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein enzyme mixture is used in an amount of 0.025 to 0.1% (w/w) of the biomass.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein enzyme mixture contains 1 to 4% (w/w) cellobiohydrolase, 1 to 4% (w/w) beta-glucosidase, and 35 to 45% (w/w) polygalacturonase, with respect to the total weight of the enzyme mixture.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein no mechanical size reduction is carried out during process step (b).

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the enzyme mixture additionally contains pectinmethylesterase activity.

8. The process according to claim 1 , which is carried out in a single tank.

9. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the chemical or microorganisms are added to the solid biomass before or together with the enzyme mixture.

10. Liquefied biomass derived from sugar beet and/or sugar cane, which is storage stable and fermentable and obtainable by a process as defined in claim 1 .

11. The liquefied biomass according to claim 10 , having a saccharose content of 0 to 50% (w/w), a fructose content of 20 to 45% (w/w), and a glucose content of 50 to 70% (w/w).

12. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the chemical or microorganism is added in an amount to adjust the pH of the liquefied biomass to a pH below 3.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein step (b) is carried out for 6 hours or less.

14. Process for the production of a liquefied product, comprising the following steps:

(a) providing sugar beet and/or sugar cane biomass material;

(b) liquefying said biomass by subjecting it to the enzymatic action of an enzyme mixture comprising cellobiohydrolase, beta-glucosidase, and polygalacturonase to a liquefied product;

wherein the enzyme mixture additionally contains one or more hemicellulase activities selected among arabinase, xylanase, rhamnogalacturonase and 1,3-/1,6-beta-D-glucanase;

wherein step (b) is carried out for less than 10 hours; and

wherein the liquefied product in step (b) has a content of remaining insoluble solids of less than 2% (w/w).