Recent progress on the pretreatment and fractionation of lignocelluloses for biorefinery at QIBEBT

Pretreatment or fractionation is one of the key steps for the conversion of lignocelluloses to sustainable biofuels, biomaterials or biochemicals, because pretreatment/fractionation can break the natural recalcitrance of lignocelluloses, improving the conversion efficiency of downstream processes. This paper will review the recent progress on pretreatment and fractionation of lignocelluloses for biorefinery in Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT). Main technologies introduced were alkaline twin-screw extrusion pretreatment, modified alkali pretreatment, hydrogen peroxide-assisted sodium carbonate pretreatment, fractionation with formic acid, as well as the two-step fractionation by hot water treatment coupling ammonium sulfite treatment. With the development of these technologies, a pilot scale platform of pretreatment and saccharification was established in the pilot plant of QIBEBT.