Effects of inorganic salts on pretreatment of Miscanthus straw

► Potential utility of inorganic salts in the pretreatment of Miscanthus straw. ► The trivalent salt was active, the di- and mono-valent salts relatively less so. ► FeCl3 showed an especially strong, almost-100% xylose removal efficiency. ► The effectiveness of the salts followed the order FeCl3 > ZnCl2 > CaCl2 > KCl > NaCl.