Biomass breakdown: A review on pretreatment, instrumentations and methods.

Enzymatic breakdown of lignocellulosic biomass for liquid fuel production is a viable alternative to fossil fuels, due to its renewable and environmental friendly nature. Naturally, plants protect their cell wall polysaccharides by giving limited access to the cell wall degrading enzymes. Lignocellulose breakdown requires proper pretreatments that disrupt the close inter-component association between the constituents of the plant cell wall. For efficient biomass conversion, the choice of the correct pretreatment is important for removing the barriers to enhance access to microbial enzymes. Among the pretreatment methods available, biological pretreatment is a promising approach for biomass degradation as there are no inhibitors generated. Another significant area that needs attention is the development of methods that can qualitatively and quantitatively determine the degradation of biomass and product generation. More technological advancement would be required in the field of pretreatment technology and fermentation processes to make the whole process economical. Here, we review the recent developments in the field of lignocellulosics, role of various pretreatments, instruments & methods and role of microbial enzymes in biomass degradations.