**2.1 Delignification of biomass with per acetic acid**

Seeing as, PAA is decomposed with metal ions thereby, the extractive free raw materials was initially treated with 0.2% (w/v) EDTA at 90°C for 1 hour to remove

**Figure 2.** *Represents the steps involved in extraction of xylan-rich hemicellulose.*

the metal ions prior to delignification [9]. The delignification of the extractive free materials was performed with 500 mL of 10% (v/v) PAA at pH 3.5 (adjusted with NaOH solution), at 85°C for 30 minutes with constant stirring. The system was cooled in an ice bath followed by dilution twice with distilled water. The delignified biomass (holocellulose) was collected by filtration and washing with warm distilled water and finally with acetone. The holocellulose was dried at 60°C in vacuum oven.
