Production of alkali tolerant cellulase free xylanase in high levels by Bacillus pumilus SV-205

► Hyper level of xylanase under optimized conditions. ► Highly alkali stable over a broad pH range of 6-11 for 24 h. ► Retained 65% activity after an incubation of 2 h at 60 °C. ► Parametric optimization leads to 21.63 fold increase in activity.