Effects of microwave power and microwave irradiation time on pretreatment efficiency and characteristics of corn stover using combination of steam explosion and microwave irradiation (SE-MI) pretreatment

► Effects of microwave power (MP) and time (MT) on SE-MI process were investigated. ► Enzymatic hydrolysis yield and sugar yield increased with MP and MT rising. ► The maximum total sugar yield was 72.1 g/100 g glucose and xylose in feedstock. ► Microwave effect was important to biomass decrystallization in SE-MI process. ► Low MP and short MT were favorable for SE-MI process considering energy consumption.