Biological Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Biofuels and Bioproducts: An Overview

Increasing energy demands are not only exploiting the fossil resources but, also depleting natural environment. Biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable, ecofriendly, sustainable and could be a promising alternative to fossil fuels. However, pretreatment is an essential step to disarray the layers of lignocellulose prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. Among various pretreatments of lignocellulose, the biological pretreatment using microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi are gaining popularity due to its financial and environmental benefits. Careful selection of the suitable microbial consortium for efficient pretreatment of biomass is a critical step. The co-culture of bacteria and/or fungi in consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) is highly beneficial in the breakdown of complex biopolymers due to their high enzyme activity. Our selection of highly promising bacterial and/or fungal consortium has the ability to produce various extracellular enzymes including cellulase, hemicellulase, and lignases. It can be used in CBP for efficient biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass following production of biofuels and bioproducts.