PROCESS FOR FRACTIONATION OF OLIGOSACCHARIDES FROM AGRI-WASTE

The present invention provides a continuous and cost effective chemo-enzymatic process for fractionation of holocellulose, obtained from agri-waste, into arabinoxylooligosaccharide, s xylooligosaccharides and cellooligosaccharides, suitable for commercial applications. The process comprises of mixing the holocellulose with an aqueous medium in a controlled condition to obtain an aqueous extract comprising of soluble arabinoxylooligosaccharides and insoluble solid fraction; followed by treatment of the solid fraction with an aqueous alkali solution at controlled condition to obtain soluble xylooligosaccharides and cellulose residue. The cellulose residue is thereafter suspended in aqueous acid solution followed by treatment with an enzyme at controlled condition to obtain soluble cellooligosaccharides. The arabinoxylooligosaccharides, xyloofigosaccharides and celloofigosaccharides obtained from the process have a degree of polymerization greater than 4.