Mimicking the Fenton reaction-induced wood decay by fungi for pretreatment of lignocellulose

In this study, the Fenton reaction, which is naturally used by fungi for wood decay, was employed to pretreat rice straw and increase the enzymatic digestibility for the saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass. Using an optimized Fenton's reagent (FeCl₃ and H₂O₂) for pretreatment, an enzymatic digestibility that was 93.2% of the theoretical glucose yield was obtained. This is the first report of the application of the Fenton reaction to lignocellulose pretreatment at a moderate temperature (i.e., 25°C) and with a relatively high loading of biomass (i.e., 10% (w/v)). Substantial improvement in the process economics of cellulosic fuel and chemical production can be achieved by replacing the conventional pretreatment with this Fenton-mimicking process.