Lignocellulosic biomass (LCB), the most abundant natural
polymer
across the globe, offers much potential to be a sustainable, non-food-competing
carbon source for the production of biofuels and biochemicals. Compared
to chemical hydrolysis, enzymatic saccharification of LCB is commonly
regarded as less energy-intensive, less toxic, and more environment-benign
for efficient, targeted sugar recovery. Nonetheless, the sensitivity
of enzymes toward denaturing conditions, poor recyclability, and costs
are the bottlenecks for their industrial application. Accordingly,
enzyme immobilization has been proposed to address such shortcomings.
This review appraises the type of support matrices and enzyme-immobilization
techniques,
and examines various factors impacting the enzyme immobilization to
identify the optimal technique for LCB conversion. Covalent binding
of enzymes onto magnetic nanoparticles has been suggested as an excellent
immobilization technique in terms of good reusability and improved
system stability across changing pH and temperatures. State-of-the-art
challenges and future research directions on the enzymatic saccharification
of LCB are discussed.