Delignification of sugarcane bagasse using pretreatment strategies for bioethanol production

Sugarcane bagasse has proved to be a promising feedstock for bioethanol production due to its high cellulosic content and huge availability. For bioethanol production to be effective, pretreatment is the most crucial step to remove recalcitrant lignin and make cellulose more accessible to enzymes for hydrolysis. The most widely used pretreatment techniques employ high temperature and pressure which generate biological growth inhibitors such as furfural and hydroxy methyl furfural (HMF). Hence, adaptation of a pretreatment technique operating at ambient temperature and pressure is mandatory as it reduces the inhibitors being formed. Alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) is notable among all the pretreatments as it operates at room temperature and it is found to increase the efficiency of hydrolysis. Moreover, there is no or very less inhibitors formation in this treatment which in turn improves fermentation. Thus, the present study reviews about current pretreatment technologies and their drawbacks due to inhibitors formation, and importantly examines the key roles of AHP in refining the biomass particularly sugarcane bagasse for bioethanol production.