Enhanced methane production of Miscanthus floridulus by hydrogen peroxide pretreatment

•HPP effectively improved COD and VFA in pretreated substrate.•HPP enhanced methane yield of miscanthus.•Structural deconstruction of miscanthus using HPP enhanced methane yields.

Pretreatment is very important for improvement of the biogas production from biomass in anaerobic digestion (AD) process, especially for lignocellulosic substrates. Hydrogen peroxide pretreatment (HPP) was used to enhance the AD of Miscanthus floridulus. Results showed that the maximum methane yield was produced at 0.8% H2O2 concentration at neutral pH, which was 278.7 mL/g VS (volatile solid) and increased by 49% compared to untreated sample. The results of XRD (X-ray diffraction) revealed that HPP process could marginally decrease crystallinity of cellulose which could be beneficial for better substrate utilization. In addition, SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis suggested that pretreated miscanthus had a more porous structure compared to untreated substrate. Thus HPP is an environmental friendly and economical pretreatment method for AD of miscanthus.