Second generation biofuels are produced from forest and crop residues, energy crops and municipal wastes. They are composed mainly of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. The conversion of these lignocellulosic biomass to biofuel (ethanol) typically involves a disruptive pretreatment process followed by enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of the cellulose and hemicelluloses components to fermentable sugars. Effective use of lignocelluloses will require development of effective hemicellases to hydrolyze hemicelluloses which account for about thirty percent of plant materials. One of the major hemicellulases is xylanases which hydrolyze xylan a major fraction of hemicelluloses. The Xylanase activity of Sacharolyticum degradans,a bacterium isolated from the Chesapeake Bay was studied. The enzyme was more active on birchwood xylan compared to beechwood or oat spelt xylan. The optimum temperature and pH of the xylanases from S. degradans were 45oC and pH 6.5 respectively. The half life at 50oC is 180 minutes. The enzyme was more stable above pH 6.59 with over 80% of the activity still remaining after 120min at 45oC