ABSTRACT

Ethanol as a fuel has been a major area of interest in recent times due to its emission reducing
properties. It has also been mandated by the government that 10 % of ethanol be blended in petrol.
Ethanol has traditionally been produced by direct fermentation from sugar cane and sugar beet. Since
these are also used as foodstuffs, the production of ethanol from biomass that is usually wasted or
burnt in fields. Due to the complex structure of lignocellulose, the biomass sample needs to be
pretreated before hydrolysis. This report details several pretreatment methods, with special emphasis
on the pretreatment of biomass using organosolvs. A comparative analysis of various organic solvents in
pretreatment processes after an extensive literature survey has been offered.

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