The rate of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose reaction is known to decrease significantly as the reaction proceeds. Factors such as reaction temperature, time, and surface area of substrate that affect cellulose conversion were analyzed relative to their role in a mechanistic model based on first order inactivation of adsorbed cellulases. The activation energies for the hydrolytic step and inactivation step were very close in magnitude: 16.3 kcal mol(-1) for hydrolysis and 18.0 kcal mol(-1) for inactivation, respectively. Therefore, increasing reaction temperature would cause a significant increase in the inactivation rate in addition to the catalytic reaction rate. V-max,V-app was only 20% or less of the value at 72 h compared to at 2 h as a result of inactivation of adsorbed cellulases, suggesting prolonged hydrolysis is not an efficient way to improve cellulose hydrolysis. Hydrolysis rate increased with corresponding increases in available substrate surface binding area. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.