Systematic Utilization of Carbohydrate-Rich Residues by Microbial Enzymes-Based Processing Technology: A Biorefinery Concept

Valorization of carbohydrate-rich wastes by microbial fermentation is one of the thrust areas of research and has attracted many researchers over the last few decades. Usually, solid and liquid wastes are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and minerals. Discharge of wastes from agricultural residues, food industries, paper industry, as well as municipal solid wastes in landfill sites and liquid waterbodies, possess a negative impact on society. The consequences of such activities not only imbalance different zones of the biosphere but also contribute to global warming. With the advancement in multidisciplinary research, innovative technologies were developed for the effective utilization of municipal and industrial wastes into value-added products, specifically organic wastes rich in carbohydrates which can be employed to generate useful chemicals, biocatalysts, bioplastics, and alternative sources of energy via white biotechnology. Methodologies to add value to waste are multimodal, comprising of physical, chemical, physicochemical, and biological technologies. Among these modes, the biological option is greener and eco-friendly in nature. Within the biological option, the application of GRAS (generally recognized as safe) microorganisms is a modern approach for the disintegration of complex macromolecules into simple ones owing to the inherent action of enzymes secreted by them. In this chapter, the authors attempted to elaborate on the technologies developed to date to convert carbohydrate rich wastes into value-added biomolecules by microbes-derived enzyme-based processing technology.