Screening and Production of Lignocellulosic Enzymes From Thermophilic Bacterial Isolates of the Anaerobic System

Abstract

1.1. INTRODUCTION Plant material mostly consists of lignocellulosic biomass also called as dry matter. It consists of cellulose, hemicellulose bound by an aromatic polymer called lignin which provides structural support to the plant system (1). The composition of these materials may vary accordingly based on the type of plant or species, e.g. Wood consist of high cellulose (50-60 %) and lignin content, whereas leaves and straw have more hemicellulose content (2). These components are discussed below in details:  Cellulose: It is made up of a large number of β-D-glucose monomers depending upon its degree of polymerisation, linked via. β-(1,4)glycosidic linkage (3). The repeat unit of cellulose is cellobiose which can be further degraded to form glucose monomer. Cellulose is present have both crystalline and amorphous form present in it, out of which amorphous one is easy to degrade. Cellulose has many industrial applications and is used in mostly paper and pulp industry to make paper, paperboards, cardboard etc. Also, it is used in textile industry for making cotton and other fibres, this industry used cotton as a substrate which generally contains 90-95% of cellulose in it (4).