It is only 40 years ago that the biodegradation of
lignocellulosics was first discussed [8]. Enzyme conversion
is substrate-specific without by-product formation, which
reduces inhibition of the following process steps. However,
enzyme-catalysed conversion of cellulose to glucose is slow
unless the biomass has been subjected to pretreatment,
which is also required to reach high yields and to make the
process commercially successful [9]: the pretreatment aims