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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. E-mail:
gmtui@amu.udsm.ac.tz.
Accepted
13 February, 2009 |
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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. |
