Research progress on organic acid pretreatment of lignocellulose

Kaixuan Huang; Kaiyue Su; Mood Mohan; Jiayi Chen; Yong Xu; Xin Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.142325

Research progress on organic acid pretreatment of lignocellulose

Kaixuan Huang
, Kaiyue Su
, Mood Mohan
, Jiayi Chen
, Yong Xu
, Xin Zhou

Molecular Biophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass is a naturally occurring, renewable resource that is utilized to produce a variety of high–value-added products, such as fuels, acids, and building block chemicals. The pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a crucial step in the deconstruction and fractionation of its components. Organic acids, such as formic, acetic, lactic, and maleic acids, have been widely studied for their effectiveness in lignocellulose pretreatment. Organic acid–based pretreatment techniques are gaining increased attention due to their ability to selectively separate hemicellulose and cellulose, promote oligomer formation, and minimize byproducts. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the various advancements in the science and application of organic acids for the pretreatment of lignocellulose. Furthermore, the significant challenges of organic acid recovery after pretreatment are highlighted, and different recovery methods are discussed. The future challenges related to utilizing organic acids for lignocellulose pretreatment are summarized, with a strong emphasis on adopting a sustainable approach to converting valuable bioresources into renewable products.

Original language	English
Article number	142325
Journal	International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Volume	307
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.142325
State	Published - May 2025

Funding

The work was supported by the Research Startup Foundation of Yancheng Teachers University (204070022) and the International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials (cxgd20220208). The authors also acknowledge the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (23KJD220002) for supporting the work presented in this paper. This work was also supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, through the Genomic Science Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (contract no. FWP ERKP752). The authors would also like to express their gratitude to Mr. John Batson III for his assistance in proofreading the manuscript.

Keywords

Lignocellulose pretreatment
Organic acids
Recycling

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10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.142325

Cite this

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title = "Research progress on organic acid pretreatment of lignocellulose",

abstract = "Lignocellulosic biomass is a naturally occurring, renewable resource that is utilized to produce a variety of high–value-added products, such as fuels, acids, and building block chemicals. The pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a crucial step in the deconstruction and fractionation of its components. Organic acids, such as formic, acetic, lactic, and maleic acids, have been widely studied for their effectiveness in lignocellulose pretreatment. Organic acid–based pretreatment techniques are gaining increased attention due to their ability to selectively separate hemicellulose and cellulose, promote oligomer formation, and minimize byproducts. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the various advancements in the science and application of organic acids for the pretreatment of lignocellulose. Furthermore, the significant challenges of organic acid recovery after pretreatment are highlighted, and different recovery methods are discussed. The future challenges related to utilizing organic acids for lignocellulose pretreatment are summarized, with a strong emphasis on adopting a sustainable approach to converting valuable bioresources into renewable products.",

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AU - Huang, Kaixuan

AU - Su, Kaiyue

AU - Mohan, Mood

AU - Chen, Jiayi

AU - Xu, Yong

AU - Zhou, Xin

PY - 2025/5

Y1 - 2025/5

N2 - Lignocellulosic biomass is a naturally occurring, renewable resource that is utilized to produce a variety of high–value-added products, such as fuels, acids, and building block chemicals. The pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a crucial step in the deconstruction and fractionation of its components. Organic acids, such as formic, acetic, lactic, and maleic acids, have been widely studied for their effectiveness in lignocellulose pretreatment. Organic acid–based pretreatment techniques are gaining increased attention due to their ability to selectively separate hemicellulose and cellulose, promote oligomer formation, and minimize byproducts. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the various advancements in the science and application of organic acids for the pretreatment of lignocellulose. Furthermore, the significant challenges of organic acid recovery after pretreatment are highlighted, and different recovery methods are discussed. The future challenges related to utilizing organic acids for lignocellulose pretreatment are summarized, with a strong emphasis on adopting a sustainable approach to converting valuable bioresources into renewable products.

AB - Lignocellulosic biomass is a naturally occurring, renewable resource that is utilized to produce a variety of high–value-added products, such as fuels, acids, and building block chemicals. The pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a crucial step in the deconstruction and fractionation of its components. Organic acids, such as formic, acetic, lactic, and maleic acids, have been widely studied for their effectiveness in lignocellulose pretreatment. Organic acid–based pretreatment techniques are gaining increased attention due to their ability to selectively separate hemicellulose and cellulose, promote oligomer formation, and minimize byproducts. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the various advancements in the science and application of organic acids for the pretreatment of lignocellulose. Furthermore, the significant challenges of organic acid recovery after pretreatment are highlighted, and different recovery methods are discussed. The future challenges related to utilizing organic acids for lignocellulose pretreatment are summarized, with a strong emphasis on adopting a sustainable approach to converting valuable bioresources into renewable products.

KW - Lignocellulose pretreatment

KW - Organic acids

KW - Recycling

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105000480256

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DO - 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.142325

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VL - 307

JO - International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

JF - International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

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ER -

Research progress on organic acid pretreatment of lignocellulose

Abstract

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Keywords

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