African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12496

Review

Recent advances in pretreatment of lignocellulosic wastes and production of value added products

Godliving Y. S. Mtui
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Dar es Salaam, P. O. Box 35179, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 13 February 2009
  •  Published: 20 April 2009

Abstract

 

This study highlights the recent advances in the treatment and value addition of lignocellulosic wastes (LCW) with main focus on domestic and agro-industrial residues. Mechanical, physical and biological treatment systems are brought into perspective. The main value-added products from lignocellulosic wastes are summarized in a manner that pinpoints the most recent trends and the future directions. Physicochemical and biological treatment systems seem to be the most favored options while biofuels, biodegradable composites and biosorbents production paints a bright picture of the current and future bio-based products. Engineered microbes seem to tackle the problem of bioconversion of substrates that are otherwise non convertible by conventional wild strains. Although the main challenge facing LCW utilization is the high costs involved in treatment and production processes, some recent affordable processes with promising results have been proposed. Future trends are being directed to nanobiotechnology and genetic engineering for improved processes and products. The paper presents state of the art review of the dual advantage of handling LCW for cleaner environment and production of renewable bio-products.

 

Key words: Lignocellulosic wastes, pretreatment systems, value-added products.