Economic utilization of crop residues for value addition: a futuristic approach (original) (raw)

2000, Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research

The ag ri cul tural products (cellulosic and li gno-cellul osic, including soft-and hard-wood) havin g being produced by the photosynthet ic processes, are virtuall y inex haustibl e, and co ul d be co nverted into hi ghl y attrac ti ve subs trate for bi oconversion processes. T he stru ctu re of ligno-cellulosic materi al is based on th ree main components: cellulose, hem icellulose and lign in. These th ree compo nents offe r tre mendous biotechn ological potential to be used as substrate in bi oconversion processes and can be effec ti vely exploited for the prod ucti on of bul k chemi cals and value-added products. It is poin ted out there is an urgent need to develop processes fo r economic util ization of these residues th rough the advances in biotechnology. Some major produ cts whi ch could be produ ced from these sources incl ude ethano l, enzymes (e.g. cellul ases (endoglu canases, exo-cell obiohydrolase and ~-g lu cos id as e), ligni nases (laccase, Mn-peroxi-. dase and Liperoxidase) , xy lanase, pectinase, amylases, aand ~-ga l ac tos i da s es , caffei nase, tann ase), foo d and fee d (probiotcis), etc. Some major residues which need special emphas is incl ude sugar cane bagasse, cassava bagasse and coffee pu lp. It is mentioned that additi onal research on the pre-treatmen t of feeds tock is required to improve the com ponen ts yield and th e ce llul ose diges tibilit y to the level, whi ch would make usage of such res idues economi call y viable. Sim ilarly, although much efforts have been made in the past on the cell ulose hydrolysis , its effective conversion into fermentab le sugars is an area whic h needs furth er inputs in te rms of R&D. It is argued that mu ch need be done on the hydrolysis of hemicell ulose (a nd soft-wood). An in-depth analys is is presented on th e scenari o of appl icat ions of crops resi dues in developing co untries, part ic ularly in Indi a, with special reference to sugar cane bagasse, cassava bagasse and coffee pulp.