Bioprocessing of cassava stem to bioethanol using soaking in aqueous ammonia pretreatment

For environmental and economic reasons, production of value-added products from lignocellulosic biomass has gained increasing interest. The high cellulose content of the cassava stem makes it as a preferrable source for ethanol production. The complex nature of the plant cell wall challenges the successful conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol. Hence, pretreatments are required to remove the structural barriers of the lignocellulosic biomass to achieve efficient hydrolysis and increased yields of fermentable sugars. In this chapter, the characterization of cassava stem, pretreatment of cassava stem by soaking in aqueous ammonia, and the production of ethanol from cassava stem are discussed.