Lignocellulosic substrates as starting materials for the production of bioactive biopigments

Abstract

The search for sustainable processes is constantly increasing in the last years, so reusing, recycling and adding value to residues and by-products from agroindustry is a consolidated area of research. Particularly in the field of fermentation technology, the lignocellulosic substrates have been used to produce a diversity of chemicals, fuels and food additives. These residues or by-products are rich sources of carbon, which may be used to yield fermentescible sugars upon hydrolysis, but are usually inaccessible to enzyme and microbial attack. Therefore, pre-treatments (e.g. hydrolysis, steam explosion, biological pretreatment or others) are required prior to microbial action. Biopigments are added-value compounds that can be produced biotechnologically, including fermentation processes employing lignocellulosic substrates. These molecules are important not only for their coloring properties, but also for their biological activities. Therefore, this paper discusses the most recent and relevant processes for biopigment production using lignocellulosic substrates (solid-state fermentation) or their hydrolysates.