title: Fungal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass.
abstract: Pretreatment is a crucial step in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars and biofuels. Compared to thermal/chemical pretreatment, fungal pretreatment reduces the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass by lignin-degrading microorganisms and thus potentially provides an environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient pretreatment technology for biofuel production. This paper provides an overview of the current state of fungal pretreatment by white rot fungi for biofuel production. The specific topics discussed are: 1) enzymes involved in biodegradation during the fungal pretreatment; 2) operating parameters governing performance of the fungal pretreatment; 3) the effect of fungal pretreatment on enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production; 4) efforts for improving enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production through combinations of fungal pretreatment and physical/chemical pretreatment; 5) the treatment of lignocellulosic biomass with lignin-degrading enzymes isolated from fungal pretreatment, with a comparison to fungal pretreatment; 6) modeling, reactor design, and scale-up of solid state fungal pretreatment; and 7) the limitations and future perspective of this technology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University/Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave, Wooster, OH 44691-4096, USA.
authors.forename: Caixia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Yebo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D005658:Fungi / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008031:Lignin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C036909:lignocellulose; D008031:Lignin