Biological Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Enzymatic Saccharification

Biological delignification is an attractive approach for pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. This approach is very cost effective, low-energy requirement, environment friendly, low formation of toxic materials such as furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, etc. Biological approach has been demonstrated using direct microorganism as well as using enzymes extracted from microbes. The microbial treatment includes fungi such as white-rot fungi, brown-rot fungi and soft-rot fungi, and bacteria. Both of brown-rot and soft-rot fungi principally degrade the plant polysaccharides with minimal lignin degradation, while white-rot fungi are capable of complete mineralization of both the lignin and the polysaccharide components. This chapter presents a brief review of the relevant and updated literature on biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Various approaches used by different researchers for biological delignification of lignocellulosic biomass, including microbial and enzymatic approaches, mode of action, effect of biological pretreatment on lignocellulosic biomass, effect of biological pretreatment on enzymatic hydrolysis, have been included in this chapter. The chapter also provides a glimpse of the gaps, which need to be studied. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.