Agricultural residues, biomass exploitation

There have been many processes developed for the treatment of various biomass materials. NormaUy, agricultural residues are more easily treated than hardwood materials. The most difficult substrate for treatment is softwood materials because they have a relatively high Hgnin content. Most processes exploit a variety of mechanisms in order to render the carbohydrate components of Hgnocellulosic materials more susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial conversion (for details,see [27-30]). 

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