1. Background and General Introduction

Owing to the increasing demand for energy, the hunt for alternative sources of energy generation that are inexpensive, ecofriendly, renewable, and can replace fossil fuels is on. One approach in this direction is the conversion of plant residues into biofuels wherein lignocellulose, which forms the structural framework of plants consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, is first broken down and hydrolyzed into simple fermentable sugars, which upon fermentation form biofuels. A major bottleneck is to disarray lignin which is present as a protective covering and makes cellulose and hemicellulose recalcitrant to enzymatic hydrolysis. A number of biomass pretreatment processes have been used to break the structural framework of plants and to depolymerize lignin. In this chapter, background and general introduction on pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production are presented.