Pretreatment of yellow pine in an acidic ionic liquid: Extraction of hemicellulose and lignin to facilitate enzymatic digestion

► Pine wood was treated with 1-H-methylimidazolium chloride. ► Treatment effectively removed lignin and hemicellulose. ► Cellulose rich fractions were hydrolyzed into glucose with cellulase. ► Demonstration of reactive delignification in ionic liquids for pretreatment.