Obtaining new cultures of microorganisms that produces cellulases and xylanases from the sugarcane bagasse

Background The international energetic system strongly depends on fossil fuels, which causes negative effects in the environment, such as the global warming. Biofuels appear as an environmental and economic alternative for the energetic industry because of their potential source of renewable energy. Several studies are based on sugarcane culture and its derivatives, as bagasse, the sugarcane residue. Bioethanol can be produced by the fermentation of sugar or by the hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass [1]. The plant cell wall is constituted of cellulose (40-50%), hemicellulose (15-30%) and lignin (1030%), forming the vegetal biomass. Cellulases are enzymes that form a complex that hydrolyses cellulosic materials, releasing sugars [2]. The main component of hemicellulose is the xylan, which is hydrolyzed by xylanases [3]. Cellulases as xylanases have a great biotechnological potential, they can be used in a variety of field: food, animal feed, textile and paper recycling industries. The sugarcane bagasse (SCB) is the most studied lignocellulosic waste for bioethanol production, because it is a by-product of conventional ethanol and can be find in large amount in Brazil [4]. Nowadays, the process of bioconversion of biomass has high cost and low specific activity of the enzymes that are necessary for the cellulose saccharification [5]. The aim of this research is to obtain microorganisms that hydrolyze the sugarcane bagasse and to quantify the sugar production.