Improving enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass by bio-coordinated physicochemical pretreatment—A review

Abstract

The abundant lignocellulosic biomass has great potential as a renewable energy source. Due to its resistant nature, lignocellulosic biomass requires pretreatment to increase its accessibility to cellulase. Currently, the main types of pretreatments include physical, chemical, and biological pretreatment, of which biological pretreatment is favored for its advantages of mild conditions, nonpolluting, and low energy consumption. Still, disadvantages such as time-consuming and low efficiency limit its large-scale application. This review focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of various pretreatment methods, highlighting the advances in research on bio-coordinated physicochemical pretreatment to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis rate of lignocellulosic biomass. By bio-coordinating different pretreatment methods, biological pretreatment time has been shortened, and enzymatic sugar yield has been increased by more than 30% in general compared with pretreatment alone, which has a broad application prospect in industrial production. However, research gaps related to the economic-technical analysis and combined pretreatment energy efficiency still remain.

Keywords

• Lignocellulosic biomass
• Combined pretreatment
• Biological pretreatment
• Enzymatic hydrolysis