1.1 Hemicellulose Hydrolysis

In contrast to cellulose, which is crystalline, strong, and resistant to hydrolysis, hemicellulose has a random, amorphous structure with little strength. It is eas­ily hydrolyzed by dilute acid or enzymatically using an arsenal of hemicellulase enzymes [19]. In addition, the lignocellulose can be mildly pretreated with chemi­cals prior to enzymatic hydrolysis for better saccharification into fermentable sug­ars. This reduces the crystallinity of the biomass and makes it more amenable to fur­ther coordinated enzymatic reactions [18, 20]. Various pretreatment strategies with dilute acid, alkali, ammonia fiber explosion, hydrogen peroxide, steam explosion, wet oxidation, liquid hot water, sodium sulfite, etc., have been discussed [3, 21].