BIOCONVERSION OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS TO ETHANOL USING DIFFERENT MICROORGANISMS

Abstract

Lignocellulosic material that includes hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin (lignocellulosic complex) is present in the plant cells. The hydrolysis process of the lignocellulose biomass into glucose in the presence of lignocellulytic enzymes is an area of concern in the production process of cellulosic biofuel. Microorganisms like fungi have the ability for degrading the plant cell wall by an enzyme set which acts in coordination. This moves in a direction to release glucose freely. Another challenge is the modification in the plant cell architecture. Along with this, the capacity of microorganisms in degradation by the modification of the genomes is also one of the challenges. The advantage of the biological process of pre-treatment for degradation of the lignocellulosic materials is because of its effective enzymatic system. There are two types of enzymatic systems which is of extracellular nature in fungi. These are hydrolytic and ligninolytic systems. Hydrolases are produced by hydrolytic system which degrades the polysaccharide and produces sugar. The exclusive oxidative advantage and the extracellular ligninolytic system degrades the components of lignin and also opens the rings of phenyl. The reducing sugars are then converted in ethanol production with the use of various fermentative microorganisms. In this paper, the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol using different microorganisms is discussed along with other relevant aspects.