Hydrolysis of xylan and fermentation of xylose to ethanol

The focus in the development of pulping processes has usually been exclusively on cellulose. However, hemicellulose could serve as a valuable source of hexose and pentose sugars. Consequently, it should not be destroyed in a process designed for very high cellulose fibre yields. Novel procedures developed for production of ethanol by the fermentation of pentoses as well as hexoses provide new possibilities of hemicellulose utilization.

Many fungi produce extracellular hemicellulases. In the present work the production of xylanase and β-xylosidase with strains of Aspergillus and Trichoderma was studied. The enzymes were used for the hydrolysis of xylan. Xylose was fermented to ethanol by the mold Fusarium oxysporum.