Pre-treatment of Wheat Straw: A Review.

Wheat straw is an agricultural by-product which can be utilized to produce Bioethanol, an alternative source of energy for the depleting fossil fuel. The present work is dedicated to reviewing the methods which have been studied for pretreatment of wheat straws. Wheat straw contains high level of cellulose which can be used for production of reducing sugars, reducing sugars can be further converted into ethanol using various microorganisms like yeast. Important processes involved in conversion of wheat straw into ethanol: hydrolysis of lignocelluloses to produce reducing sugars and fermentation of sugars into ethanol. Pretreatment of wheat straws can enhance the process of hydrolysis by removing lignin and hemicellulose. Optimization of cellulose enzymes can improve hydrolysis process, Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is a combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation inhibits reducing sugar and lead to maximum rate of enzymatic hydrolysis.SSF requires lower amount of enzyme and provide higher yield of alcohol from cellulose enzyme.