Microbial delignification and hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass to enhance biofuel production: an overview and future prospect

Abstract

Abstract Background The depletion of fossil fuel and its huge environmental problem are currently a concern for a scientific community in the area of energy engineering. This opened research opportunities for searching alternate renewable energy sources especially biofuel production from lignocellulose biomass resources. The main objective of this paper is to review the delignification and hydrolysis capabilities of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi). Results Currently, different types of lignocellulose biomass pretreatment technologies are available. All of the technologies are either in lab scale or in pilot scale. Among the pretreatment technologies, biological pretreatments attract many attentions because of their eco-friendly advantages, performed at a mild temperature and do not produce inhibitory compounds during the pretreatment process. Industrial-scale biofuel production using biological delignification and hydrolysis process is still at lab scale, and intensive research works are required. The cost of biofuel production from lignocellulose biomass is currently expensive. Conclusion Searching for the best microbial strains having efficient lignin-degrading and polysaccharide-hydrolyzing capabilities is vital to realize industrial-scale biofuel production from lignocellulose biomass. Process optimization along with genetic engineering of microorganisms is seen as a potential for biofuel production from lignocellulose biomass.

Keywords

• Biological pretreatment
• Lignocellulose biomass
• Delignification
• Fungi
• Bacteria
• Hydrolysis