Advances and prospection in preparations, bio-actives and applications of functional xylo-oligosaccharide

In recent years, lack of resources has become an increasingly acute problem hindering human development, and the concept of sustainable development has become increasingly popular. As a result, valorization of agricultural residues for high-value added medicine, food and feed additive industry has attracted attention due to its interesting technology strategy for the sustainable production of compounds utilizing the benefits of the biomass production industry. Xylo-oligosaccharide (XOS) is one of these compounds, recognized for its excellent prebiotic effects and nursing effects on the digestive system. Its use in leading products in the food, cosmetics, materials, and biological energy fields has application prospects without becoming mainstream products due to the various causes and obstacles. Here we review the developments in XOS production from biomass and provides a comprehensive evaluation and prospect of XOS production from technical and economic aspects. The major points are the following: 1) Advances in research on the efficacy and biological function of XOS; 2) Methods of producing and qualifying highly pure XOS from primary non-food biomass; 3) Comprehensive evaluation and prospect of the bottleneck and development expectation of XOS industry.