Abstract:
With increasing focus on sustainable energy, bio-refining from lignocellulosic biomass has become a
thrust area of research. With most of the works being focused on biofuels, significant efforts are also
being directed towards other value added products. Feruloyl esterases (EC. 3.1.1.73) can be used as a tool
for bio-refining of lignocellulosic material for the recovery and purification of ferulic acid and related
hydroxycinnamic acids ubiquitously found in the plant cell wall. More and more genes coding for feruloyl
esterases have been mined out from various sources to allow efficient enzymatic release of ferulic acid
and allied hydroxycinnamic acids (HCAs) from plant-based biomass. A sum up on enzymatic extraction
of HCAs and its recovery from less explored agro residual by-products is still a missing link and this
review brushes up the achieved landmarks so far in this direction and also covers a detailed patent search
on this biomass refining enzyme.
