The increased population has led to an increase in the demand for goods which in turn has caused rapid industrialization. In turn, the increase in industrial set-ups has led to the increased production of industrial wastes. These industrial wastes cause major environmental havoc by polluting the water, air and soil. The quality and quantity of wastewater generated depends on the type of industry: it can contain non-biodegradable waste such as heavy metals, pesticides, plastic etc. and biodegradable compounds such as paper, leather, wool etc. Industrial wastewater can be toxic, reactive, carcinogenic or ignitable. Therefore, without proper treatment and management strategies, the discharging of the waste into water bodies can pose dreadful environmental and health effects. Several waterborne pathogens proliferate in wastewater and produce toxins, affecting the earth's ecosystem and human health. The toxins in industrial wastewater cause acute poisoning, immune system suppression and reproductive failure. According to the WHO, around 80% of diseases are waterborne. To address the environmental and health issues created by industrial wastewater, it is absolutely necessary to obliterate its toxicity by adequate treatment with physical, chemical and biological means so that it can be recycled for water conservation.

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Over the past two decades, birchwood and beechwood xylans have been used as a popular substrate for the characterization of xylanases. Recently, major companies have discontinued their commercial production. Therefore, there is a need to find an alternative to these substrates. Xylan extraction from Acacia sawdust resulted in 23.5% (w/w) yield. The extracted xylan is composed of xylose and glucuronic acid residues in a molar ratio of 6:1 with a molecular mass of ∼70 kDa. The specific optical rotation analysis of extracted xylan displayed that it is composed of the d-form of xylose and glucuronic acid monomeric sugars. The nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of extracted xylan revealed that the xylan backbone is substituted with 4-O-methyl glucuronic acid at the O2 position. Fourier transform infrared analysis confirmed the absence of lignin contamination in the extracted xylan. Xylanase from Clostridium thermocellum displayed the enzyme activity of 1761 U/mg against extracted xylan, and the corresponding activity against beechwood xylan was 1556 U/mg, which confirmed that the extracted xylan could be used as an alternative substrate for the characterization of xylanases.

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