Improved pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass using enzymatically-generated peracetic acid

► Perhydrolases form peracetic acid from ethyl acetate and hydrogen peroxide. ► Peracetic acid fragments lignin, but does not damage cellulose. ► New enzyme and pretreatment procedure reduce the amount of enzyme tenfold. ► Pretreatment requires 0.28 g peracetic acid per g of aspen wood. ► After peracid pretreatment, 97% of the sugars are released by cellulases.