Pretreatment of wheat straw using SO2 dissolved in hot water

► Wheat straw hemicellulose was efficiently pretreated in an H2O-SO2 system. ► SO2 in the H2O-SO2 system could be recovered and reused after reaction. ► SO2 in water favors hemicellulose conversion rather than xylose dehydration. ► Kinetic analysis was performed by Saeman modeling and Arrhenius equation.