An efficient strategy for enhancing enzymatic saccharification with delignified fungus Myrothecium verrucaria and solid acid

In this work, corn stover was studied as a lignocellulosic material with the potential of serving as a feedstock in the field of bioenergetics. To improve the enzymatic digestibility of carbohydrates in the lignocellulosic biomass, corn stover was pretreated using Myrothecium verrucaria to deplete the lignin, combined with a solid acid pretreatment method to deplete the hemicellulose. The effects of lignin degradation conditions and solid acid concentration on cellulose conversion were investigated. The two-stage pretreatment with M. verrucaria and solid acid under optimal conditions gave 81.54% cellulose conversion yield, 214.22% higher than that of untreated corn stover. Significant lignin and hemicellulose removal rates were observed with the two-stage pretreatment. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses showed major structural changes in the pretreated corn stover. This study provided an efficient strategy to enhance the enzymatic saccharification of cellulose in corn stover.