Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

Microbial production of ethanol might be a potential route to replace oil and chemical feedstocks. Bioethanol is by far the most common biofuel in use worldwide. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most promising feedstock for fuel bioethanol production. However, the main limiting factor is the higher degree of complexity inherent to the processing of this feedstock. Bioconversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol consists of four major unit operations: pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation and product separation/ distillation. Fungi are probably the most biotechnologically useful group of organisms and are used to synthesize a wide range of economically important compounds, enzymes, and secondary metabolites.

The mesophile filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa is the best known Neurospora species and has been used extensively for genetic, biochemical, and molecular studies as a model organism. Furthermore, it has been found to possess the ability of metabolizing a wide range of substrates, including cellulose and hemicelluloses, making it a promising candidate for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. The most limiting factor is the slow fermentation rate that needs further improvement.