Biomass, chemicals and media
RS was procured from a local farm. It was cut into 1–2 cm size with a chaff cutter and passed through 5-mm mesh in a hammer mill (Finex, India). The raw material was washed thoroughly with
tap water until clean and colorless, air dried and stored at room temperature in air tight containers. The main composition of RS (on dry matter basis) was cellulose 40.33 ± 1.53%; hemicellulose 28.67 ± 0.58%; lignin 6.97 ± 0.76%; ash 18.03 ± 0.1% and moisture 6.0 ± 0.2%. All chemicals and media components were of analytical grade and were purchased locally.