Sodium borohydrate (NaBH4) pretreatment for efficient enzymatic saccharification of wheat straw

► Enzymatic hydrolysis may be improved with NaBH4 use in chemical pretreatment step. ► NaBH4 treated straw gave 83.3% glucan conversion in enzymatic hydrolysis. ► Four percent NaBH4 (60 min) pretreatment resulted in the highest ethanol yield of 115 g/kg. ► Calculated theoretical yield (86.9%) was highest for 4% NaBH4 pretreated sample.