Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

Demand of liquid transportation fuel is escalating due to mammoth growth of world population and global industries in last few decades. The resource of conventional liquid fuel, the crude oil reserves are depleting day by day; fuel prices are ever rising and the environment is being polluted by the increased use of these fuels. All these factors led to the search of some cheap, viable, renewable, environmentally sustainable resource of energy. Biomass is one of the best suitable primary energy resources that can provide alternative transportation fuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel. Lignocellulosic is a plant derived biomass and is most abundant in nature. It contains significant amounts of carbohydrates such as hemicellulose and cellulose to produce energy carrier such as bioethanol which is used in transportation fuel. It is cheaper than other plant derived materials such as cereal grains and sugary juices, etc. which are conventionally used for bioethanol production but not advisable to be used for this purpose as these contribute towards foods and food products. The lignocellulosic biomass is converted into simple sugars by pretreatment and hydrolysis with chemicals or enzymes. In the present chapter, microorganisms are used for production of cellulase enzyme which converts cellulose fraction of the lignocellulose into glucose. With the help of microorganisms, glucose can further be converted into ethanol which is a clean and environmentally safe substitute of liquid fuel. Hence the development of technology for the production of ethanol has shifted towards the utilization of residual lignocellulosic material to lower the demand of crude oil.