초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>The present work emphasizes to develop a cost-effective process for the saccharification of lignocellulosic agro-wastes viz., husks of corn, peanut and coffee cherry, utilizing the consortium of crude lignocellulolytic enzymes produced by the newly isolated <I>Sphingobacterium</I> sp. ksn followed by fermentation process with yeast strains. The agro-residues were subjected for steam pretreatment before enzymatic hydrolysis and compared with NaOH or H<SUB>2</SUB>SO<SUB>4</SUB> pretreatments. Corn husk was found to be the best substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis for the production of fermentable sugars. The <I>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</I> and <I>Candida tropicalis</I> were employed individually or as co-culture for fermentation of the hydrolysate obtained after enzymatic breakdown of steam treated agro-residues. The maximum ethanol produced by utilizing enzymatic hydrolysate of the steam treated husk of corn as substrate by separate hydrolysis and fermentation were 20.61, 5.81 and 18.21 g L<SUP>−1</SUP> respectively, whereas 20.66 and 5.85 g L<SUP>−1</SUP> were acquired from the corresponding immobilized yeast cells after 72h of fermentation.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Enzymatic hydrolysis of steam, acid and alkali treated agro-residues were compared. </LI> <LI> The steam treatment was best method for agro-residues before enzymatic hydrolysis. </LI> <LI> The maximum ethanol was produced using corn husk as a substrate by <I>S. cerevisiae</I>. </LI> <LI> The immobilized beads of yeast may be used upto four cycles for ethanol production. </LI> </UL> </P>