Bioconversion of Lignocellulose to Ethanol: A Review of Production Process

Lignocellulose biomass is a kind of rich reserve in china, and it is a renewable bio-resource. Researches on the bioconversion of ligmcellulose (lignocellulosic biomass) to ethanol have been hot spot in recent years. The key technologies of producing fuel alcohol by aspects of lignocellulosic raw materials, pretreatment technology, fermentation process, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of strains as well as the removal of fermentation inhibitors have been reviewed. It is pointed out that the improvement of fermentation strains, exploitation of double function saccharomyces cerevisiae (glucose and xylose fermenting) to ethanol, will be the direction and focus in future researches.